Playing With Fire
by DarkElements10
Summary: Kendall/OC. How do you get closer to your best friend? Bring her with you on vacation. Kendall has the chance to live out his dream. Riley was forced to run away from her problems. They both desperately need help and can only get it from each other. "The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire" -Ferdinand Foch. Alternate title: Her Minnesota Man.
1. Crimson

**Playing With Fire**

**By: Riley**

**Full Summary – **Kendall/OC. He's got the chance to live out his dream. She was forced to run away from her problems. They both desperately need help and can only get it from each other. When Riley goes with Kendall, Katie, and Mrs. Knight back to their home of Minnesota, she realizes that it's not as bad as she originally thought. But that doesn't mean that it'll keep her out of trouble and not bring Kendall into it as well. Originally titled Her Minnesota Man. **Rated 'T' for language and Sexuality.**

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_**.:Chapter 01 – Crimson:.**_

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Kendall Knight grunted as he pulled a guitar case off of the baggage claim and gently set it on the ground. He then put his hands on his hips and turned around, counting all of the bags that were sitting around him before turning to his mother, who had a large coat draped over her arms.

"I think that's everything, Mom," He said to her.

Mrs. Knight looked down and counted the bags as well. "I think you're right, honey," she replied. She then looked at her watch. "All I have to do now is just get the rental car and we can go home." She turned back to Kendall. "Where's Katie?"

"Probably trying to convince some security guards to let us go through the airport in less than ten minutes the next time we come by," Kendall said with a shrug. "Or using my name to get some free stuff. You know Katie, try to keep an eye on her and she'll find a way to slip away within a blink of an eye."

"Why do you think I try _not_ to have you babysit her?" Mrs. Knight replied with a half smile. "You either let her get away with whatever it is and take the blame or she somehow slips out of your grasp and things go wrong."

Kendall looked amused. "How'd you figure that out?"

"You're my son, that's how." Mrs. Knight smiled fully. Her smile then faded as she let out a sigh. "Where's Riley?"

"Over there." Kendall pointed to the side.

Mrs. Knight followed his finger and they both turned to see Riley Jackson-McGuire sitting on a windowsill, her knees drawn up, and the cord of headphones leading from her ears to the iPhone that was clutched tightly in her hands. The balls of her feet were resting on the ground and her knees were bobbing up and down. Her black hair with red streaks was out of its normal pigtails and hung over her face, covering her blue eyes. But Kendall didn't have to see her face to know that she was angry.

"She's been sitting there since we got to baggage claim," Kendall explained.

"Well, I didn't expect her to miraculously be happy with Ronan's vacation decision for them after a three hour plane ride," Mrs. Knight pointed out.

"Good point," Kendall agreed. He thought for a moment. "You go get the rental car, I'll find Katie, and the three of us will watch our bags until you get back." He suggested.

"Thanks sweetie," Mrs. Knight replied. "Good luck," she added before turning away and walking off towards the Hertz Rent-a-car storefront.

_Thanks, I'll need it. _Kendall turned around and braced himself before he walked over to Riley. If she noticed that he had been walking over to her, she didn't show it on her face when he reached her side. She lifted her head and looked at him, her face completely blank.

"I need help finding Katie," Kendall informed her. "Mom wants us to watch the bags while she gets a rental car."

Riley raised her right eyebrow before lifting her iPhone and holding her thumb over a button on it. Kendall's mouth twitched as the music that she was listening to got loud enough so that he could clearly hear it through her headphones. He was sure that the loud rock music was going to give her a headache, but he also knew that she was going to do everything in her power to ignore him.

Kendall leaned over and grabbed onto the ear buds that were in her ears and pulled them out with a short tug. "At the risk of getting screamed at," he said when Riley tilted her head back to look up at him. "I really need your help finding Katie."

"Whatever." Riley snatched her headphones back and shoved her phone into her pocket.

"Come on," Kendall pleaded as he waited for her to stand up. "I don't like seeing my best friend mad."

"Well, you wouldn't have that problem if you had kept your mouth shut, mate," Riley replied, her eyes flashing.

Kendall knew that she was right. He was the one that had offered her to come with him, his mother, and Katie back to their home of St. Paul, Minnesota when he had heard Ronan's suggestion. He wanted her and her siblings to try and have separate vacations to spend some time apart, so her youngest brother Sydney was staying in LA with Ronan, Riley was going to be in Minnesota with Kendall, her twin sister Rhuben went to Texas with Logan, Patrick went to New York with James, and his twin Noah went to Florida with Carlos. It was the first time that Riley had been apart from her siblings basically since any of them had been born.

Riley is one of the members of the Australian band, the DarkElements, made up of her and her brothers and sister. They had met BTR when the guys were sixteen and the DarkElements had been hired by Gustavo to help them break in to the American market of the music industry. The two bands have been working together for two years and they were all best friends. Their music producers, Gustavo Rocque and Ronan McGuire who worked with the DarkElements were also best friends and had been for years. But if you asked them about it, they would deny that they even liked each other. Kendall and Riley considered each other their best friend of each other's band. They had a lot in common; they're the leaders of their bands, had younger siblings to look after, played the guitar, had a sports obsession (him hockey, her baseball) and went to each other for advice. Well, Riley usually made it hard for Kendall to get advice, since she usually tried to help him figure out his own problems rather than tell him right out. But they were opposites as well, Riley was blunt, realistic, and open with whatever she was feeling at whatever time and Kendall was patient, thoughtful, and loyal.

"I guess I deserve that," Kendall shifted his feet. "But you're going to have a good time here, Minnesota isn't that bad."

"I'm sure Mini Soda is a _blast_," Riley said flatly. She turned away from him as she scanned the airport. "Where'd Katie go?"

"My guess is that she's found some security guards to either get money from or to cause some other sort of mischief with," Kendall replied, pulling off his gray beanie and running a hand through his hair. "You know how she can get."

"Mhm," Riley said shortly. "I'm guessing that she probably went to get some food," she said after a minute. "She was complaining about being hungry the whole flight here."

"Yeah, she missed breakfast," Kendall agreed. He gave her a small smile. "I'm surprised you were listening, you were staring out the window the whole way here."

"I'm not deaf, Kendall," Riley replied.

Kendall winced when she said his name. Ever since she met him, any nickname that she could think of; Hockey-Head, Eyebrows, Kendork, Kendoll, K-Dawg, Butt-Chin, Dimples, Blondie…the one that she stuck with the most was Hockey-Head usually using it rather than his actual name. She and her siblings had a habit of giving their friends nicknames and Riley called Kendall by one of his nicknames so much that she usually only called him by his actual name when she was mad or being serious about something.

"Did I come back at a bad time?" Kendall and Riley turned around to watch Katie slowly walking up to them, holding onto a large cup from McDonalds. "I got a milkshake," she held the cup out of Kendall, pointing the straw at him. "Want some?"

"Where were you?" Kendall asked, placing his hands on his hips.

Katie gave him a 'duh' look. "Did you not hear my just say that I went to McDonalds and got a milkshake?" She looked behind Kendall to the bags that were sitting on the ground. "You know you're not supposed to leave bags sitting out on the ground unattended? We could be stopped by security."

"Ooh can we?" Riley asked, sarcasm dripping in her tone. "That would be _so _much more exciting than just standing here. And it'll distract me from wanting to go home for a second." She shrugged, putting her hands in the back pockets of her black jeans and walking over to the suitcases.

"She's still in a bad mood?" Katie asked, looking up at her brother. Kendall nodded as the two walked after her. "I don't blame her, really, if I were her, I'd be mad too." Kendall made a whining sound in the back of his throat. "Not at you, but having to be separated from her brothers and sisters if it's the first time. Especially after just being adopted and everything."

Kendall nodded in agreement.

Shortly after the guys and Katie had met The DarkElements, they had noticed something wrong with them. They flinched whenever a hand was raised, they didn't like to be alone, they never answered questions directly, they were very standoffish, and they had countless bruises. It didn't take long for them to figure out that they were being abused. BTR helped sentence their abuser in the child abuse case and he lost custody of them. Then Ronan had adopted them to be his own kids.

"Don't worry bro, she'll stop being mad at you soon enough and then you guys can go back to being best friends," Katie reassured Kendall. She moved her milkshake to her left hand and grabbed onto Kendall's hand with her right.

"Thanks," Kendall smiled.

"You're welcome."

When Kendall and Katie reached Riley, they sat down among their bags and waited for Mrs. Knight to get back. Katie decided to pass the time by counting how many people looked at them weirdly whenever they approached baggage claim. About forty people, no one else seemed to care. Then she counted how many kids raced over to Kendall and Riley to get their autographs, just about all o f them. By the time that Mrs. Knight came back, Katie was lying on the ground, counting the windows on the ceiling. She lost count after her eyes started to cross.

"Katie, why are you lying on the floor like that?" Mrs. Knight asked with a laugh, standing over her.

"Trying not to be bored," Katie replied, getting to her feet. "Did you get the car?"

"Yes," Mrs. Knight held up a set of car keys and shook them. "And we can go get it now." She turned to Riley. "Are you ready to go?"

Riley nodded.

"Do you have a coat?"

Riley looked confused for a moment and then her face went black. She definitely did not have a coat to use. Having lived in Australia for all of her life and then having lived out in LA while she and her siblings had been working with Big Time Rush, she was used to the warm climates. So there was no way that she would have a coat to use to keep her warm when she was out in Minnesota. She had visited Minnesota with her siblings, Ronan, Gustavo, Kelly, Katie, Mrs. Knight, and Big Time Rush before, and she had forgotten a coat then too.

"You can just use my sweatshirt," Kendall unzipped his suitcase and started to rummage through it. He pushed a few pairs of shoes aside before he pulled out a sweatshirt. "Aha!" He handed it over to Riley.

She grabbed it out of his hand and looked it over for a second before pulling it on. Due to the fact that he stood at six feet even and she was only 5'3", the bottom of the sweatshirt went down to her knees if not a little bit further. Kendall smiled a little as he repacked his bag.

"Come on," Mrs. Knight picked up her bag and waited for the others to get theirs before walking out of the airport. She shivered as soon as the cool, Minnesota air reached her, easily pushing through her coat. It had been a while since they had been back home; it was going to take a while to get used to everything again. Even though it was summer, the weather could get pretty cool every now and then.

They loaded the rental car with their bags and climbed inside. Riley pulled her arms into the sweatshirt and pulled the sleeves in as well. The tip of her nose was bright red and she was shivering. Mrs. Knight turned on the heater before pulling out of the parking lot and heading towards her house.

"So," Katie turned to Riley with a curious look on her face. "What do you want to do first while we're out here?"

Riley was silent for a long moment. "Can I go home yet?" She finally asked.

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**A/N: **Ok, Riley may have seemed like a jerk in this, but like I said, it's the first time that she's been away from her brothers and sisters, even if it's for a short vacation. This story has Mrs. Knight, Kendall, Katie, and Riley as the main characters, but Ronan, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, Sydney, James, Carlos, and Logan make appearances as well. And while this _is _a Kiley fic, the story isn't centered on the two of them getting together, there's an even bigger plot for the two of them.

For our timeline, this would be set during season 3 after Riley tells Kendall that he needs time to himself. So, kind of like _You're Not Alone_, but different as this story is set entirely in Minnesota. Um, as you can see above, it was originally entitled _Her Minnesota Man. _I have a gifset for it on my tumblr a couple of pages back. Otherwise...I hope you liked the chapterand I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	2. Emerald

_**.:Chapter 02 – Emerald:.**_

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"And this is my room…"

"Katie, I've been here before, remember? For Christmas when you all dragged us here."

"Oh, you loved it and you know it."

Kendall smiled to himself as he dragged his suitcase into his room, listening to Katie and Riley as Katie showed the older teenage girl where to put her stuff. He shuffled into his room and dropped his suitcase to the floor before gently placing his guitar case on the bed. He yawned loudly, the almost four hours flight had left him exhausted and he still had more bags to bring in as well as setting up his room again. Most of his stuff had been taken and put into storage when they had gone out to LA, but he still had enough to make his room still feel like his own space. Not that he didn't mind sharing a room with Logan, that was cool, and it was a good way to get his homework done whenever he was in a bind, but he still missed his room.

He missed his home.

LA could never compare to Minnesota.

He ran a hand over his face as he walked out of his room, towards the stairs. He stopped by Katie's room and laughed to himself when he saw that she was sitting on her bed, waiting for her computer to boot up. All of her bags were scattered around her room untouched. It didn't surprise him that she was so frantic to get connected to the internet if she wasn't obsessively checking her stock reports; she was looking at her bookmarked websites about finances, looking for new talent to try and become the manager of, checking out her ScuttleButter, or looking at videos on Netflix or YouTube. But he had to guess that she was either trying to see if she got some e-mail from her best friend, or from her boyfriend, Patrick, one of Riley's younger brothers.

It was hard for him to come to terms with the fact that Katie was growing up and that she was interested in more things than comic books and tagging along with him like she used to. He didn't really mind that she dated, he knew it was going to happen eventually, but that didn't mean that he couldn't still protect her the best way that he could while he was still able to. Kendall turned from Katie's doorway and went down the hall towards the staircase. At the top, he stopped and laughed to himself when he saw Riley struggling to pull her suitcase up the stairs. She had her back to him and was bent over, holding onto a handle. Every few seconds, she would pull the handle back towards her, slowly taking a step closer to the top.

"Do you need help?" Kendall leaned against the banister, looking down at her.

Riley flipped her hair out of her face as she tilted her head back to look at him. She looked at him for a long moment before looking back down at her suitcase. "No, I don't need help!" She said sharply, pulling it up the rest of the stairs. "Not from you anyway," she added under her breath.

Hurt flashed through Kendall's eyes. She was his best friend and he was well aware of the fact that she would say the first thing that came to mind. She was never one to spare her opinion about something and that was something that he really admired about her. But when it came to how angry she was at him, it just made him feel like crap. Kendall reached out a foot and moved it in her way, effectively blocking the suitcase from moving.

"I'm sorry for suggesting that you come here with me, Mom, and Katie. I know that you would have rather stayed with your brothers and sister on vacation together. But I think it'd be good if you guys spent some time apart." Riley stood up straight, resting her hands on her suitcase, which she now propped up, listening to him. "Not that I'm saying that you all have to have a ten foot rock wall in between you at all times…" he tried a different tactic. "I know that you miss them, but-"

"I get it!" Riley interrupted her eyes flashing. "_Thanks_!" She jerked hard on the suitcase and Kendall quickly pulled his foot back out of the way before it got run over. She rolled the suitcase into the guest room, disappearing from sight.

Kendall shrugged and went back down the stairs and outside to help his mother get the rest of their things from the car. He lifted a carrier out of the back of the car and put it up close to his face. His pet pig, Yuma, pressed her snout against the metal bars that were against the front of the carrier. "I bet you're getting tired of being in there huh? Don't worry, you're home now." He grabbed a bag his mother held out for him.

"So how's Riley adjusting so far?" Mrs. Knight asked as she used her free hand to close the back of the car.

"Still mad at me, but that's no surprise," Kendall said. He flicked his head, moving his hair from his face. "Sometimes all you have to do is breathe funny and she gets annoyed." He shrugged. "But, I mean, I don't blame her. It's…whatever." Mrs. Knight continued to look at him funny. "What?"

"Nothing." Mrs. Knight lifted her bag and locked the car and the two headed into the house. Mrs. Knight left her bag by the front door and headed towards the kitchen. Kendall dropped his bag and then lowered Yuma's carrier to the floor. He unlocked the cage and watched as she slowly walked out, sniffing at the ground.

He let out a tired sigh as he flopped himself onto the couch, resting an arm over his face, the other hand resting on his chest. He was tired, but not tired enough to go to sleep yet. Though he was afraid that he was going to be up all night. He was used to working so hard that he got minimal sleep and worked for hours on end with Gustavo yelling at them whenever they did something wrong. He was used to being on tour and being on such an adrenaline rush that days blended in together and he would forget which day was which or which show was when or where. Now he was finally getting a chance to relax and he wasn't sure if he would be able to handle it.

Something suddenly landed on his head. "Ow," he mumbled.

"There's no way that that could have hurt," Katie's voice sounded near him. She let out a shriek when Kendall grabbed whatever had landed on his head and threw it in the direction of her voice. "Ha." She laughed a second later. "Missed me."

"I'm not mad at you." Kendall opened his eyes to see Riley sitting on the arm of the couch, above his head. She was looking at her phone, slowly scrolling through something. He shifted his head, to let her know that she had his attention. "I'm not mad at you," she repeated. "Not really, anyway," she muttered. "I'm just frustrated at Ronan for suggesting that we try separate vacations." She rolled her eyes. "What a stupid idea."

He knew that was probably the closest that he was going to get to an apology for a while, he was just glad that she was at least talking to him instead of snapping at him. He never had a problem like that with any of the other guys. They'd get mad at each other, but hours later, they would be best friends, brothers again. But…she was a different kind of friend and one that he knew was more sensitive than she let on, and could hold a grudge for a while.

"Good to know." Kendall reached down and lifted Yuma up off of the floor. He set her on his chest and she started to walk up and down his body, letting out little snorts along the way. "Just so you know, I'm going to make it hard for you not to like it here."

"Good luck with that," Riley snorted. She then pressed a hand to her chin, feigning thought. "Why does that sound so familiar?"

_"Well, do you need directions to get there?" Kendall asked and flipped to a clean sheet of paper in his notebook. He stopped and looked up when Rhuben forcefully grabbed his notebook and flipped it back to his original page. "I don't know why you're acting like this when I'm just trying to be your friend." He said, not seeming to take offense about it."I plan on making it really hard for you not to like me."_

_Riley sucked in a deep breath in her nose before placing her hands on the top of his desk. "Listen you large-eyebrowed-freak," She said in a low voice. "The __last__ thing that I want at this point is someone who is trying to be my friend." Her eyes narrowed as she studied him. "And for whatever reason, I don't believe that that is all that you want to do." She stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. "Or that you're going to give up."_

_"It's because I'm not." Kendall replied with a short shrug._

_Riley gave him an odd look before leaving the room with her siblings._

"You just signed your death wish, Riles." Katie laughed. Kendall looked over at her and shared a smile and a wink with her. "Now you know that he's not going to leave you alone until he gets you to admit that you love it here."

"How would that be any different from the fact that he already doesn't leave me alone." Riley put her phone away, lifting her head to smirk at Katie. "Or stop talking for that matter." Her smirk widened as Katie laughed harder.

Kendall frowned, reaching out to run his hand over Yuma's back. _I came from the crib with my best buds, to a house filled with girls making fun of me all the time. That's great. _Hearing his mother call his name, Kendall sat up and lifted Yuma in both of his hands, placing a quick kiss to her head before dropping her onto the floor. Stretching his arm over his head, he went into the kitchen and saw his mother standing at the refrigerator, frowning as she looked inside.

"You rang?" He asked.

"You mind going to the store?" Mrs. Knight turned to her son, closing the refrigerator door. "I know that we just got back, but I didn't think about how late the flight was and what time we were going to get back…"

"It's no big deal," Kendall said, holding up a hand. He scratched the back of his head as he thought about it. "I'll just go to Sherwood's I think I can still get a discount there." He gave a half smile. "I just have to be sure that I don't get caught by Mr. Stayton or else I'm going to be working the whole time I'm home."

"Maybe you should," Mrs. Knight suggested.

Kendall raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"I mean, just so you can stay grounded while you're home," Mrs. Knight explained patiently. "You don't know how people are going to react now that you're back home. They might not see you as Kendall Knight the guy that went to Highland Park, the guy that worked at Sherwood, the guy that was a normal teenager that would help anyone that needed help."

"I'm still the same person, Mom," Kendall reassured her. "You're worrying over nothing." He held out his hand. "Do you have a list or something?" Mrs. Knight nodded and handed him a small notepad and some money. "I'll be back soon." He turned on his heel and went back into the living room. Katie and Riley were watching TV, intently watching a show that was on Investigation Discovery. Kendall walked around the couch and lightly hit Riley on the arm with the notepad. "Hey, d'you want to come to the store?"

"Why would I want to do that?" Riley asked, her gaze still on the TV screen.

"Yeah." Katie turned to Kendall with a mischievous smile. "Why would she want to do that? You know…" she looked at her nails. "Unless you have some specific reason of wanting her to go with you."

"Yeah, so I refrain from killing you!" Kendall grabbed a couch pillow and hit Katie in the face with it. He then turned to Riley. "Besides, I figured you'd like to see, and probably make fun of, the place where I used to work." He drummed his hands on the back of the couch, waiting for her response. After a minute, she stood up from the couch, brushing her hair behind her ears. Kendall waited until she was out of sight before turning to Katie. "Please stop that."

"Stop what?" Katie rolled her eyes. "Kendall, I'm trying to help you."

"No, you're laughing at me," Kendall contradicted.

Katie gave a disarming smile. "Not to your face." She crossed her arms over her chest. "What does it matter if I say anything? You already told her how you felt…kind of."

"Kind of being the operative words," Kendall reminded her.

"Don't worry big brother, I've got a plan." Katie adopted a evil smile and rubbed her hands together. "And this plan is even better than anything that I could have come up with back in LA. Trust me." Kendall looked at her warily and she smiled and shrugged in reply.

Kendall turned back around as Riley hoped down the stairs, tying a shoe as she went. She then leaned over the couch and grabbed a sweatshirt. Kendall realized that she had thrown it at him to get his attention earlier. She pulled it on and shoved her hands into the front pocket. Kendall held his hand over his mouth, trying not to laugh; being in an oversized sweatshirt made her look like a little kid. She tilted her head to the side, looking at him curiously, and he quickly turned away, feeling butterflies erupt in his stomach.

"Come on." He led the way out of the house and the two started to walk down the street. "So the good thing is that our hometown is small enough that we can walk to most of the places that we need to go to."

"Like your high school?" Riley asked, looking down at the sweatshirt where in large, blue print it read: Highland Park Senior High School.

"Yeah." Kendall shrugged. "Our high school was cool, I guess. The hockey team was great. I never really liked going, the only good thing was that James, Logan, and Carlos were there."

"I getcha," Riley agreed. "I don't really like school either. I mean, I'm good at it, but I didn't like it much. The teachers back home…I don't know, some of them were just complete assholes and others just didn't really seem to care." She twisted her mouth to the side. "The uniforms were bad enough-"

"You had to wear uniforms?" Kendall asked with an incredulous laugh.

"And it's the one that you're thinking of." Riley concurred. "A button down t-shirt, long sleeved if it was colder. A blazer depending on the time of year or a regular jacket, a tie, a plaid skirt, and whatever shoes you wanted."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Kendall said. He adjusted his beanie on his head. "Though I don't think I could ever wear one and not be annoyed by it." He shoved his hands into his pockets of his jeans as they continued to walk. "I'm glad that you're talking to me now."

"Don't get too excited," Riley said dead-pan. "You're not off the hook yet."

Kendall chuckled to himself.

He lifted his head and looked around at the familiar buildings as he walked by them. He wasn't sure when he was ever going to be back there, other than the shows that they would have in Minnesota. It was the biggest comfort that he had ever since he had left for Los Angeles. His mother, sister, and best friends were with him in Los Angeles, so he didn't have to worry about being homesick. He never realized how much he missed it until he was back. There wasn't a concrete jungle around him, no skyscrapers, no crazy traffic, not having to worry about fitting in, or wondering if what he was doing was "acceptable" in the public eye. He was back home where things were the same as when he had left it. He looked harder. Everything actually _did _look the same. He frowned. Part of him had expected things to be a little different when he had gotten back, maybe some paint or something. But an even bigger part of him was glad that nothing had changed.

"This is the place." Kendall swept an arm out towards the grocery store that loomed in front of them. People were milling in and out of the store, carrying large bags of groceries or pushing their carts in front of them. "Where I worked for three years before agreeing to go out to LA with Gustavo."

Riley nodded.

"Just do me a favor," Kendall said as he grabbed a kart and pulled it out of the rack. He moved it back and forth a couple of times before kicking at the wheel. He then pushed it forward and started to walk into the store. "If you see a man that looks kind of uptight, let me know. That's my old boss and I don't want to have to get stuck working while I'm on vacation."

"You mean the guy that's standing over by that cash register?" Riley pointed.

Kendall followed her gaze and made a sound of annoyance before grabbing her arm and ducking behind a rack of food. "Yep, that's him. Mr. Stayton." He leaned over and poked his head out from around the rack before quickly ducking back again. "He's not a bad boss at all, he just doesn't take 'no' for an answer." He lifted the notepad and started to look over the things that his mother wanted him to get. "Ok, first thing we need to get is milk."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Riley walked along beside him.

Kendall gave her a funny look. "It's _milk_, I don't think-"

"No, boofhead, I mean you being here," Riley said. "In this store. You guys haven't had to deal with it before…but once you become really famous, people back home don't treat you the same."

"My mom was telling me the same thing," Kendall said.

"Your mother's a smart woman," Riley said. She stopped, grabbing onto his arm, forcing him to look at her. Her eyes bored into his. "I'm being serious, dude." She pointed towards the ceiling. "Listen." Kendall listened hard and smiled when he heard Big Time Rush's song _Windows Down _being played.

"So?" He shrugged. "It's cool. I wonder what kind of radio play we're getting here if they have the song in a grocery store as small as this."

That was Kendall; he was the kind of person that tried to be as positive as possible. Even when things would blow up in his face or something seemed that it wasn't possible, he would continue to push along with what he believed in, trying to spread his positivity around as well. He figured it was one of the reasons why his friends always turned to him whenever he was in a jam. He usually came up with some sort of answer to a problem, or he was able to reinforce their beliefs and relieve their self doubt.

Part of him was sure that it was because he was trying his hardest not to be like his father. Whenever Kendall played pee wee hockey, his father would stand off to the side, pushing him harder and harder. While it did make him a better player, it was still weird for him. Especially since his father was close to getting to the NHL at some point, but then when he and Katie were born, it became harder and harder for him to be able to realize that dream. _I wonder how things would have turned out if Dad was able to make it to the NHL, to realize his dream, just like me and the others guys are able to._

"Kendall!"

Kendall froze and slowly turned around to see his boss standing behind him, his arms crossed over his chest. Kendall glanced over at Riley before turning back to Mr. Stayton with a bright smile. "Hey, Mr. Stayton. It's good to see you. How're the kids?" He clasped his hands together. "My mom says 'hi'. But I've got some shopping to do, so if you'll excuse me…"

"I have something for you," Mr. Stayton said. He walked over to Kendall and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's only going to take a few minutes, I promise." He waved a hand, instructing Kendall to follow him. Kendall let out a sigh, his shoulders dropping, and turned to Riley. 'Told ya' he mouthed before following his former boss. Riley walked along behind them.

When Kendall entered Mr. Stayton's office, his eyes immediately moved to a large pile of mail that sat in the corner of the room. Mr. Stayton walked over to the pile and rested his hand on top of one of the tallest piles. He turned back to Mr. Stayton with a funny half smile. "It seems to me that you're a more popular employee than I thought."

"What?" Kendall blinked.

"All of this is fan-mail for you," Mr. Stayton explained. "No one knows your new address so they kept bringing things here, after they found out that you used to work here." He crossed his arms over his chest, resting against his desk. "Day after day I would get stacks of mail from fans, hoping that it would get to you."

"Told you," Riley said.

Kendall walked over to a pile of letters and sifted through them. The generic pictures and drawings and colorful envelopes stared back at him. He didn't have to look at them to know what they said; they were such big fans of his, they loved his music, they loved everything that they did, they loved that he was representing a little known city. He and the guys got the same kinds of letters all the time, so much so that, as much as he hated it, he barely read any of the letters anymore and just signed as many pictures that he could, just to send them back to the fans. He scanned the letters. The feeling of support was overwhelming.

"And this just came in for you today." Mr. Stayton caught Kendall's attention. He was holding out a large, flat envelope. "Apparently they knew when you were going to get back home."

Kendall hesitantly took it. When he read the address his eyes widened and he rushed to open it. His eyes scanned the sheet of paper a couple of times before he lifted his head. "This is from the All Star team. They want me to try out and play for them." He looked down at the letter again. "The last time I got this…was when we weren't sure that the concert was still going to go on." He ran a hand through his hair. "Wow, I can't believe this."

"Believe it," Mr. Stayton said. "Everyone knows that you're probably the best hockey player that the city has seen in a long time. You'd be crazy to pass up an opportunity like this."

_That's the same thing that the guys said when it came to going out to LA. _Kendall frowned as he looked over the sheet of paper again. "Uh, do you mind if I leave some of this stuff here and come pick it up later?" He looked over at Mr. Stayton.

"Sure," Mr. Stayton said. "You can get it tomorrow when you come in for your first shift." Before Kendall could even say anything, Mr. Stayton walked forward and clapped Kendall on the arm. "It's good to have you back, son."

"Wait a second, I didn't…" Kendall trailed off, shaking his head as his boss walked out of the office. "I really should have seen that coming." He scratched his head as he turned back to look at all of the fan mail that was waiting for him.

"So do you want a big, fat 'I told you so'?" Riley arched an eyebrow. "Or would you rather I just do a quick victory dance?" She pressed a hand to her chest. "'Cause I'm good with either."

"Either way, you're going to find a way to rub it in," Kendall said. He folded the letter and put it in his pocket. "C'mon." He led the way out of the office and around the grocery store as they got everything that was on Mrs. Knight's list. "I wonder how Mom and Katie are going to react when I tell them that I got this opportunity," he mused. "Either way, I'm going to have to practice a lot." He stopped and turned to Riley, who was looking over the candy section at the register. "Hey Riles-"

"No," Riley swiftly shot him down.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" He protested.

"Yes, I do." Riley pursed her lips slightly. "You're going to ask if I'll go with you while you practice so I can tape you or whatever, just so you can see how well you're doing. Well you can forget it." She turned to him. "You can drown in that pond for all I care."

Kendall gave a half smile. "There's an indoor rink," he pointed out. "Besides, its summer, the pond is melted."

"Even better," Riley said with over-the-top enthusiasm. "You can crash into the boards and knock yourself out!" She accompanied her sentence with a enthusiastic thumbs up. "Have fun with that."

Kendall lowered his eyebrows and stuck out his lower lip, trying to look as pitiful as possible. "Please?" He asked in a small voice. The corner of Riley's mouth twitched and he clasped his hands together. "Please?"

"Come on, you know I hate the cold."

"Please?"

"_No_! And begging isn't attractive."

"Plllleeeeeeaaaaaasssssseeeeee?"

Riley stared at Kendall as he gave her the puppy dog pout. Her face then softened and she rolled her eyes, slapping her arms down to her sides. "God! I _hate _it when you make that face! I can't ever say 'no' to that face, it's so annoying!" She scowled.

"Where do you think Katie got it?" Kendall asked with a cheeky smile.

"Yeah, yeah…"

Kendall laughed as Riley grabbed two handfuls of Ring Pops from the candy rack and dropped them onto the conveyor belt for the cashier to run through with everything else that they had gotten. They grabbed all of their food in their bags and started to walk back to the house. A million thoughts were running through Kendall's head; wondering how the rest of their vacation was going to go, how he was going to be able to divide his time with his family, work, and playing hockey, what he was going to tell Logan, Carlos, and James, what was going to happen if he really did make the All Star team…and…and…and…

"Don't worry about everything that you have to do while you're here," Riley said, as if reading his mind. "You're going to do fine."

"How can you be so sure?" Kendall shifted the bags in his arms.

"How can you not?" Riley said simply. Kendall smiled. There was a stretch of silence in between them. "Besides, I can tell that you're worried and that you need support to know that what you're doing is right. It's why you're so anxious to talk to Mama Knight and Katie." Riley continued to speak, but lowered her voice so Kendall couldn't hear, but he still managed to catch it. "It's the ones that don't ask for help that are the ones that need it the most."

* * *

"And this is when Kendall was five," Katie said, pointing to one of the many pictures that lined the walls of the living room. She looked over at Riley, who was looking over the pictures silently. "As you can see, he hadn't grown into his nose yet."

"Katie!" Kendall warned from across the room, flipping through TV channels.

"It's not my fault all of your baby pictures are ugly," Katie said simply.

"Katie, leave your brother alone." Mrs. Knight walked from the kitchen to the living room. She leaned against the doorway, wiping her hands off on a dishtowel. She turned to Riley, who continued to sit on the edge of the couch, her head tilted back as she looked at all of the pictures. "Riley, is the guest room ok for you?" She asked.

"Fine," Riley said simply. She brushed her red strand of hair out of her eyes. "But, uh, the pillow is a feather pillow and I'm allergic to them so…" she trailed off, looking sheepish. "I don't mean to complain…" she said quickly.

"Don't worry," Mrs. Knight said with a warm smile. "We have plenty of pillows around here, I'm sure there's an extra somewhere."

"I'm sure it smells like Kendall, too," Katie said with a bright smile. She rolled her eyes. "Considering the fact that he has about twenty thousand of them on his bed." She shrugged. "Something about needing to keep his leg elevated and the squishiness of the pillows keeps him limber. I just think it's a bunch of superstitious hockey crap."

"Katie," Mrs. Knight warned again.

"That's alright, I like the way he smells," Riley said. She then gave a wicked smile. "If he smelled bad, I wouldn't hang around him at all."

"Thanks," Kendall said sarcastically. He put the remote down. "Do you need help with dinner, Mom?" He got up from the couch and grabbed onto his mother's arm, pulling her out of the living room and into the kitchen before she could answer him.

Yuma followed the two of them, keeping close on Kendall's heels. Ever since he had adopted her, she stuck close to Kendall, following him everywhere he went. She walked around the kitchen, sniffing at the ground, hoping that some food was dropped for her to eat. It was always funny to him, how much Yuma could act like a god, but she was much better than a dog. More cuddly, and he didn't have to worry about as much destruction around the house or the crib.

"If I ask you something, will you tell me the truth?"

"Oh, so you finally want to know what really happened to your hamster?" Mrs. Knight asked.

Kendall paused. "No." A troubled frown slid onto his face. "What happened to my hamster?"

"Don't worry about it." Mrs. Knight laughed nervously as she waved a hand. "What was it that you wanted to ask?"

"Do you think that it might not have been a good idea to bring Riles here?" Kendall asked slowly. "I meant, I don't think I've ever seen her so unhappy." He ran a hand over his mouth. "It's the quietest I've ever seen her and she looked really sad looking at our family photos. And earlier today, I heard her say something that made me…kind of worried."

Mrs. Knight gave a weary sigh. "Honey, what you need to understand…what I can at least tell you is that Riley and her brothers and sister, before you met them, there were some things that they did that got them in to trouble. Riley and Rhuben especially. And Ronan thought that it would be a good idea if they got some time away from LA for a while," she explained.

"But, what's so different about being here in Minnesota as opposed to being in LA?" Kendall asked.

Mrs. Knight hesitated. "I can't say," she said. "At least not right now." She turned to the oven, sliding gloves onto her hands. "Now, do you mind setting the table while I get the burgers and fries out of the oven?" Kendall nodded and turned to a cabinet and started to pull out plates and glasses for them to use.

She watched her son for a little bit. She could see the worry that he was trying so hard to hide. That was the basis of his tattoo, the heart on his sleeve, sine he could never hide what he was feeling. She just wished that he wouldn't worry so much about her and Katie. They could take care of themselves and have been, especially with how much time that Kendall would spend at Rocque Records. She let out a sigh as she turned back to the oven. _If Kevin never left, I bet things would be different around here. _Not that she didn't love her life; she was so proud of the boys and everything they've accomplished, but she couldn't help but wonder how their life would have been different. She walked over to Kendall and gave him a gentle kiss on the back of the head, causing him to blush lightly.

"So, Mom, I got some really cool news today," Kendall said slowly. He started to set the table, walking around it in a circle as he put the plates and cups down. "I got invited to try out for the All Star team again. Just like when we came back here the first time, around the time of our first concert."

"Really?" Mrs. Knight's eyes lit up. "That's amazing, Kendall. I'm so proud of you."

"Yeah, but Mr. Stayton caught me so I still have to work," Kendall grumbled. "And with what little time I would have to practice before I get on the team, I'm not sure if I'll make it. And if I _do_ what am I going to do about the guys. I can't be on the team and do Big Time Rush at the same time!"

"Who says you can't?" Mrs. Knight asked. She placed two large pans on the stove top before taking off her gloves and placing her hands on her hips. "Kendall, as long as I've know you, you have never been worried about an opportunity before you took it. Just like when you were offered to work with Gustavo the first time, it wasn't an opportunity you wanted, but when you realized how good it could be, you jumped right into it, both feet first." She studied him carefully. "Besides, I don't think that's what you're really worried about."

Kendall rolled his eyes. "Believe it or not, Mom, but my mind isn't _always_ on girls."

"It wasn't," Mrs. Knight agreed. "Until you met Riley. And it's understandable; you two have been through a lot through the music industry and through your own relationships in general. If you were able to get through her being mad at you because you were so caught up in your own thing with Jo and Lucy, then you two can get through this, too."

Kendall frowned, unconvinced. He wasn't going to tell her about the fan-mail that he had gotten, not yet, anyway. He finished setting the table and called Katie and Riley into the kitchen to eat dinner. He didn't talk much during dinner; he was too busy trying to figure out what he was going to do about the All Star team. It was the biggest opportunity he ever had, but there were still a lot of things that were keeping him from making up his mind about whether or not he was going to take it. He had the support, he had the opportunity, and he had the drive for it. It was something that he wanted ever since he was four years old when he realized that he wanted to be on the Minnesota Wild.

What he wouldn't admit to anyone was that he wasn't sure if he was good enough for the team. He had barely practiced since he had gone out to LA, the dance training and work on his vocals took up all of the time that he would have used on it. All of the kids that would be his teammates would have worked non-stop since they were born and wouldn't take days off even if they were sick. Now here he was, going to throw himself back into it after, months, well, years away from it if you didn't count the few and far between charity games that Gustavo had set up for them. (And that was only after the guys had complained about the rule that they couldn't do anything dangerous, and that included hockey).

After dinner, Kendall put his dishes in the sink and went upstairs to his room to unpack his things. He looked around at all of the hockey trophies, medals, and posters that he had around his room and felt a surge of annoyance at himself. Since when was he the kind of person that would sit back and let things pass him by because he wasn't sure how things would turn out? Since when did he not put all of his passion and energy into things he wanted? He turned and picked up the packet of information for the All Star team, looking it over to see when the first practice was and at what time. Even if he didn't make the team, he was going to try his damned hardest at it.

And if all went well, he'd be able to get on the All Star Team, continue to work with Big Time Rush, and be able to finally tell his best friend how he felt about her.

And not particularly in that order.


	3. Sparks

**.:Chapter 03 – Sparks:.**

* * *

_87…88….89….90….91…_

Riley rhythmically sucked in and released her breath as she continued to do push-ups against the living room floor. When she finally reached one hundred, she leaned forward to rest on her forearms and bent her head down, silently counting to one hundred, again, ignoring the slight burn in her stomach. Sweat dripped off of her forehead and onto the towel that she had placed on the floor, not wanting to ruin Mrs. Knight's carpet.

"Good morning," Riley sucked in a sharp breath, startled, and dropped onto her stomach, pushing her face into the floor. Breathing heavily, she narrowed her eyes as she rolled onto her back to see Kendall standing over her, looking at her funny. "Sleep well?"

Riley snorted. "Who sleeps? It just takes up too much time out of the day."

It was a bit of common knowledge that Riley didn't sleep, and if she did, she didn't do it very often. One point of it was insomnia, and that was brought on by her own worry. Whenever Robert was around (and she still practiced this) she would stay up late to make sure that nothing bad would happen. Another point was that she never slept well in a new place; it took her months to get used to being in LA when they first started to go back and forth and every now and then she would have a restless night. Then there were the nightmares, one of the worst parts of PTSD that she had from hers and her siblings' past abuse was the nightmares; there were many times that she would wake up in a cold sweat, or in mid scream, or just jolted out of sleep constantly over the night because she had a feeling that something was out to get her, and that would keep her up the rest of the night. Then, of course, there was the realistic point being that she was a rockstar and she was used to having little to no sleep on tours, and very hectic schedules that caused her to have to take naps during the day if she got the chance, or stay up all night. She often wondered how her youngest brother, Sydney, was able to continue to work like that when he was so young.

"That's not healthy," Kendall remarked, still standing over her.

Riley rested her hands on her stomach. "You're telling me," she said, shortly. "Five years of this happening and I hadn't realized it wasn't healthy. What was I thinking?"

"Are you ever not sarcastic?"

"Are you ever not a blonde?"

"I didn't mean to scare you," Kendall apologized.

"No, you didn't scare me." Riley lifted her hand to point at him. "You surprised me, there's a difference, mate." Kendall briefly looked towards the ceiling, bobbing his head back and forth in a nod before holding out his hand. When Riley grabbed onto it, he pulled her to her feet in one tug. She tucked her hair behind her ears, avoiding his gaze as she took a step back away from him. "What are you doing up?"

"I figured if I was going to get ready for the tryouts for the All Star Team I might as well get an early start," Kendall said, walking into the kitchen. He reached up to a cabinet and opened it, taking out three or four plastic bottles of pills. "And since I have an early shift at the store anyway…"

Riley studied him as he frowned, looking over the pill bottles before opening them and dumping them into his palm. She crossed her arms over her chest as she continued to watch him. She could tell that he was nervous about the whole thing, getting back into hockey, especially since he had stopped playing competitively for the past three years as he focused more on his music career. Being honest with herself, she never really saw him play an actual game when he was out in LA; they were either for charity where the other team wasn't even specifically that great, he would just skate around and take a few shots to clear his head, or he and the other guys would start a game only to be stopped by something.

Mostly by Bitters, but by something.

"Ri?"

Riley flinched and backed up as Kendall waved a hand in front of her face. She briefly closed her eyes, turning her head to the side, as she tried to push down the feeling of flinching again. Finally, she blinked open her eyes and sucked in a low breath as she turned back to Kendall.

"What?" She rested her hands against the counter, pressing her fingertips onto the cool surface.

"I asked if you had planned on going running or if you already went?" Kendall twisted the jars back on his bottles of vitamins and replaced them in the cabinet.

Riley had the urge to give him a snarky answer to his question, as it was fairly obvious that she hadn't gone running yet, as she didn't have any shoes on her feet, but decided not to. It was probably the first time she had ever managed to keep herself from saying the first thing that came to her mind, and that was only because she knew that he was trying to make her feel at home and didn't deserve to be made fun of that early in the morning. Did that mean that she was going to hold off saying something later? Definitely not.

"Not yet, I was getting ready to though," she said.

"D'you mind some company?" Kendall turned back to her.

Riley quirked an eyebrow. "Do you think you can keep up, gimpy?" She smiled to herself, not being able to resist making fun of him whenever she could.

Kendall merely glanced at her. "I should have seen that coming," he said. "And my knee is fine, thank you. The air pressure in the plane screwed it up a bit, but other than that, I'm good." He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water from the sink. He tilted his head back and tossed some vitamins in before swallowing it with water. "Let me just get my shoes on and we can go."

Riley waved a hand and walked back to the living room as Kendall headed upstairs. She sat down on the couch and picked up her phone, looking at her text messages. She frowned when she saw that she didn't have any but then looked at the time. Her and her siblings had left each other just the day before, so they were probably still asleep from jet lag, so she wasn't putting too much stress on it. She quickly composed a text and sent it to them and her father.

**Riley: No matter whether or not I'm on vacation, I still get up before the sun rises. You should be proud.**

She set her phone aside and pulled on her shoes before she rested her chin in her hands, her knees bobbing up and down. _I wonder what they're going to do today. _She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, looking at her feet, suddenly very tried.

"Alright, let's go," Kendall said, coming back down the stairs. He looked back behind him as Yuma came down the stairs around him. "No, Yuma, you can't come with me. Go back to sleep." He pointed to the corner of the room and she turned and walked over to the little bed that was set up and obediently climbed inside.

Riley raised an eyebrow as she looked over at him, noticing that he was only wearing a pair of running shorts and his shoes. "Are you trying to channel James or something?" she got off of the couch, brushing off the seat of her pants before pulling her hair up into a ponytail. "Or maybe show off your tattoos or prove that you don't have tan lines?"

"You'd be surprised how many times James has given us a lecture about the sort of things that you wear when all I would be planning to do is go out to the Big Time Rush mobile to roll up the windows when it's going to rain," Kendall said. He picked up his phone and held it out towards her, focusing on the screen.

Riley groaned, instantly recognizing that he wanted a picture before complying and posing for him before taking a picture of him herself, allowing him to upload it to his ScuttleButter through Instagram. "Has anyone ever told you that you and Carlos are, like, addicted to that app?" she asked as he put his pone in his shorts pocket.

Kendall merely smiled.

He liked taking pictures to keep his fans informed with what he was doing in his life, even if he was on vacation. The fact that she was there to help him take most of the pictures or that a lot of them had her in it was merely a coincidence (and almost unavoidable) since they spent a lot of time together. Of course that just led to the comments of them getting together on the pics, which the two of them ignored. They were glad that their fans were happy about their friendship, but that was something that they didn't want to (or wasn't ready to) touch on yet. They weren't shy at all about letting the public know through pictures or interviews or stories online that they were best friends, as their friendship was very important to both of them, it was just when outside pressures got in the way that things could get frustrating and awkward pretty quickly, though they did their best to handle it.

He led the way outside, placing a hand on the small of her back to guide her out the door, and locked the door to the house behind them before the two started to walk down the driveway. He pointed to the left, indicating that was the way that they were going to go, and the two started jogging up the street. He continued their earlier conversation. "I mean, especially because of the paparazzi that's following us around all the time. They even took pictures when Katie and I went to the mall, and I'm sure there were photo-sets of that going around Stumble two seconds after they were put up on Just Jared Jr."

"Not surprised," Riley remarked. She turned her head to her, her ponytail swinging rhytmically behind her. "Is that your story for for me today?" When they were back in LA, just getting started, Kendall had the habit of waiting until she and her siblings got to Rocque Records to tell them a story about his day; what happened with Gustavo, or with Bitters, or just to complain about something that went wrong. At first he would tell all of them, but over time he would specifically wait to tell her about them, often finding himself disappointed if she was sick or just couldn't make it for the story to be told.

"Yes, but that's only because not much has happened here, yet," Kendall replied.

"Anyway, that's what I was trying to warn you about, with the store and everything. Before you know it, you're going to feel like Minnesota isn't home anymore," Riley warned.

"You worry too much," Kendall said.

"Can't help it," Riley muttered.

Kendall took a deep breath as he opened his stride, getting into the rhythm of their pace. "To be honest, I don't really feel like Minnesota is my home, at least, I haven't for a while." Riley looked over at him as he frowned. "I don't know, I just feel like the PalmWoods is my home. I felt more anxious about being kicked out of the PalmWoods than I did about leaving Minnesota to go to LA in the first place."

Riley didn't say anything. She could never really understand why someone who moved to a different place would say that it was their home. Case in point, she didn't believe that anything was her home besides Sydney, Australia. Not that she didn't like Texas when she briefly lived there, and not that she didn't like California since she spent half of her year there, but she _loved _Australia and while she was bummed that she had to leave her friends behind, she was always so excited to be going back home, even if it was for press work, recording, or going for a simple appearance. She could even admit that she was a lot happier in Australia than anywhere else, even if a lot of bad things had happened to her there.

"So, what were you planning on doing while you were out here?" Kendall changed the subject.

"You mean besides sulking?" Riley wiped sweat off of her forehead. She thought for a moment. "Probably dying, because I can't go surfing and it's driving me insane." She scratched her forehead, letting out a deep breath. "Other than that, I don't know. I don't know what you can do around here when there's no snow, which, thankfully, I'm glad about."

Kendall laughed.

Riley reached out and punched him on the arm. "Belt up!"

"Your constant dislike of snow and the cold is funny, I'm sorry." Kendall held up his hands defensively, quickly lowering them, having thrown off his stride.

"Do you want to have a death wish when you're so young?" Riley threatened. "'Cause I can fulfill it if you want. You won't see it coming." The two continued to run around the neighborhood for another half hour before turning to go back to the house. The two simultaneously slowed to a walk as they got back to the street of the Knight house. She sucked in a breath. "We can talk about anything right?" She then paused. "Have you noticed that we always ask each other that question whenever it's kind of a serious or personal question?"

"Yeah, I've noticed." Kendall placed his hands on his hips. "What's up?"

Riley stopped walking and turned to him, looking at him seriously. "Why'd you want me to come out to Minnesota with you guys?" She asked slowly. "If you didn't say anything I could have possibly stayed back with Ronan and Sydney or be sent off to Australia to stay with Julius and Brittany."

She crossed her arms over her chest as she waited for his answer, taking the time to study him closely. Most people, that weren't his fans, wouldn't think that he was that attractive. He, admittedly, had large eyebrows and a nose that was bigger than most people would want, but it worked for him. His green eyes that could see right through you, as well as his strong jaw and chin rounded it all out with his passionate personality. If you had asked her, when she first met him, if she thought that he was attractive, she would have said that he had a unique look. But if you asked her now, she would have readily answered saying that anyone that thought he wasn't was obviously blind.

Their friendship, or relationship for that matter, was complicated. When they first met and started working together at sixteen, she wanted nothing to do with him; she didn't want to be friends with him, she didn't want to have him around, she didn't want to even look at him if it wasn't work related as her band was helping his break into the music industry. By the next year, when they were seventeen, the two of them quickly moved from friends, to close friends, to best friends. Though he was with Jo at the time, he started to develop feelings for Riley, which she noticed and ignored, opting to stay away from the drama by continuing to just be his friend and help him when he needed it. After he and Jo had broken up, she had helped him through that, which solidified her as his best friend.

She, in turn, ended up developing feeling for him when she and her siblings had taken a break from their music for a year, realizing that she missed having him around. But when she went to tell him, after they had gotten back to LA, when the guys had gotten back from their All Over The World Tour, she saw how into Lucy he was and backed off. Long story short, she helped him try to get together with Lucy and when Jo came back and he had a decision to make between the two, she got mad, backed off, and refused to talk to him about it. She was madder at herself, having waited so long to tell him, as well as having to always deal with his girl drama. So when he later went to her, telling her that he didn't choose Jo or Lucy and that he would rather have her around as his friend for the rest of his life, than have a girl that he didn't know if he would end up with them, Riley told him that he needed to have time to himself before starting a new relationship. Which was frustrating to both of them as during that conversation they had implied their feeling for each other but hadn't actually said anything.

The two of them were still best friends, and that was something that Riley really liked about their relationship, knowing that anything could happen and they could still be friends.

"Well, I figured that if there was any place that you would have a good time, it would be Minnesota, since you liked it enough when you guys were here for Christmas," Kendall said slowly. He scratched the back of his head. "And if you can't have a good vacation with your best friend, who can you have a good vacation with?" He shrugged.

_Bullshit. _Riley didn't call him out on it.

"I didn't think it would be that big a deal or that it would make you so mad-"

"I already told you that I'm mad at Ronan, not at you," Riley interrupted. She moved her lower lip to the side, rubbing the back of her neck. "It's just as well; I probably couldn't have stayed home no matter how much I wanted anyway. Ronan wouldn't have let me."

Kendall's eyebrows twitched. "What do you mean?"

Riley crossed her arms over her chest, looking straight ahead as she continued to think about it. She knew the real reason why Ronan had said that all of them needed to be away from each other for a while; it didn't have to be that they were out of LA, just that they needed some time to themselves. They would have gotten into too much trouble if they were all together; they had that mob mentality when they were together. One idea and they all went with it. Though that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, most of their songs were written that way and most of their great ideas and idea of having fun started off with one thought. But when it came to what they started doing…it was more anxiety ridden than anything else.

"You'd probably hate me if I told you," she finally said, her shoulders slumping. "I'm the kind of person your parents warned you about."

"No, you're not." He frowned. "I could never hate you, you know that." He was used to her being mysterious, but sometimes it really got on his nerves how he could be very open with her, and she won't always reciprocate. But he knew how hard it was for her to be able to open to someone completely and wasn't going to push her on it.

"No, I _don't_ actually," Riley said with a sharp edge to her tone. "I don't know that you could never hate me because there's always that possibility." She bobbed her head. "I've heard that line before and it always turns out that I'm the one that's hated. It's part of our curse or something."

"Wow, Riles, your negativity is what I really needed right now." Kendall threw his hands into the air in exasperation.

Riley brushed her cheek with her shoulder. "Its part of my charm, Hockey-Head," she said with one of her ever present smirks. She looked down at her feet, placing her hands on her hips again, skillfully changing the subject. "But, yeah, thanks, I guess for coming out with me on the run. It gets kid of lonely sometimes."

"You're welcome." Kendall smiled. "Anyway, mom should be making breakfast by now."

"Not hungry," Riley said.

The two went up to the front of the house and Kendall unlocked the front door, letting them inside. Katie was sitting on the couch, iSlab on her upraised knees, flipping through TV channels. The two of them could hear Mrs. Knight moving around in the kitchen to make breakfast. Katie looked up as Kendall closed the door behind them. She made a face as she looked at the time on her iSlab.

"What time did you guys go out running?"

"Uh." Kendall looked down at his watch. "At, like, six-thirty or something like that."

"Six thirty?" Katie raised her eyebrows. "My _nose _doesn't even run that early!" She shook her head as she turned back to her iSlab. "Honestly, you guys are crazy."

"Maybe it runs in the family," Riley remarked. She grimaced and held up a hand when she heard the movements in the kitchen stop. She turned to see Mrs. Knight in the doorway, arms crossed over her chest, looking at Riley with a raised eyebrow. "Coming from their father, yeah?" she quickly added.

Mrs. Knight smiled and turned back into the kitchen.

"You barely saved yourself from that one," Kendall said. Riley turned and glared at him and he brought his hand up to make the shape of an 'L' against his forehead. Riley brought her hands up and made the shape of a 'W' against her own forehead. "I'm going to take a shower."

Riley scooped up the towel that was sitting on the floor and spread it out onto the couch before sitting down next to Katie. She picked up her phone and looked through her messages, immediately brightening when she saw that she had gotten replies from Ronan, Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, and Sydney.

**Ronan/Dad: Just be glad that you can still keep your days straight. Though I can't say that you're not committed to a specific routine. **

**Sis: Be glad that you don't have to worry about Logie spurting random facts at you this early. XD**

**Pat: At least I don't have to suffer with you now. Haha. Hope you're having a good time. Lol. Yeah, right.**

**No: Well, it doesn't seem there's much more for you to do out there if it's not snowing. So you might as well wake up before the crack of dawn and be bored the rest of the time you're there. :p Miss you.**

**Syd: Do you ever stop? Same ol' Ri-Ri, couldn't sleep even if we drugged you. Can't wait to see you again, miss ya.**

Riley's smile slowly faded as she moved her texts into the archive folder and then locked her phone once more. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Katie looking at her and she quickly cleared her throat, turning to her. "So what do you have planned for today, Kid?" she asked with a half smile. "World domination?"

"No, that's for this weekend," Katie replied with a light laugh. "I have a lot of orders from people that want things that Kendall or the guys have touched or signed or whatever." She turned her iSlab around where an excel sheet was being created. "See?" She pointed to the left column. "These are all of the people that need things today and I have a surplus of stuff that the guys have given me over the past couple of years, all I need is for Kendall to sign it."

"And people say ambition is wasted on the old," Riley remarked. She reached out and patted Katie on the knee. "Just promise that you won't crush me under your foot when you rise up to power." She got up from the couch and went to the stairs, slowly climbing them. She was used to constantly working out, but she could feel her leg muscles already starting to stiffen.

As she went towards the guest room, movement caught her eye. Looking to the side, she watched as Kendall walked around his room, a towel around his waist, as he gathered everything he needed for a shower. Her eyes lowered to his v-cut stomach, not being able to help but notice the outline of his muscles there. Lightly blushing, Riley turned her head away and quickly walked into the guest room. She picked up her notebook from the desk and looked at her suitcase as it remained unpacked. Part of her was thinking that if she didn't unpack, that meant that she wasn't going to stay there as long as they anticipated. She dropped onto her bed, throwing the notebook in front of her. She then leaned over and grabbed a pen and used her teeth to take off the cap.

Riley sighed as she rested her notebook in front of her on the bed, tapping it with a pen. She flipped through a couple of pages before leaning forward and starting to write: _I know at some point that they're going to have to find out why I was brought out here. I know that Mama Knight knows, but not Kendall and Katie. They're going to know at some point and I'd rather them know later rather than sooner._

* * *

Katie waited until Riley had left the room before picking up her iSlab and hurrying into the kitchen. She pulled herself up to the counter to talk to her mom while she made them breakfast. "Mom, do you think that doing an interview with MTV or doing an appearance at the Mall of America would be better?"

Mrs. Knight licked pancake batter off of her thumb before putting the bowl down and turning from the stove to look at her daughter. She could see the familiar twinkle in her eye that she and Kendall both got, when they got an idea for some sort of a plan. Katie always got that idea when it came to finding a way to make money or, basically, exploiting her brother and his friends as much as she could. But she always was thinking of the next big thing that could bring money, and Mrs. Knight was proud of that. Sometimes she wished that she didn't have to worry about Katie's intentions, but she could admit that she was proud of her.

"For what?" Mrs. Knight asked slowly.

"What do you think?" Katie started to tap on her iSlab. "Do you know how many people are going to try and schedule him for things to do while he's out here? He's a celebrity now; remember all of the paparazzi back in LA? Well, it's not only a problem they're going to have in LA." Katie said with a half smile, turning her iSlab around so that her mother could see.

Mrs. Knight leaned forward and looked at the picture that Katie had brought up on the site RadarOnline. It was a picture of Kendall and Riley in the airport. He was standing in front of her as she sat on a windowsill, but bent over, looking like he was about to kiss her. Mrs. Knight sighed as she pushed the iSlab down and gave her daughter a pointed look.

"You know that Radar Online isn't a reliable source," she said.

"I know _that_," Katie said. She rolled her eyes. "I know what sites are reliable and which aren't." She smiled. "How do you think I know which ones to send the gossip to?" She laughed as Mrs. Knight's pointed look hardened. "I'm kidding. But, yes, I know which ones are real and which are fake. This one doesn't really have a good story to it so you can tell that it's fake, though I'm sure everyone's freaking out about it by now. Which is stupid because ever since people found out they were best friends, they were throwing stories all over the place."

"You're not kidding," Mrs. Knight said. She let out a sigh, turning back to the stove. "Laura Wilkins already called me to find a way to deal with it."

Katie frowned. "Why you? You're not her manager, Ronan is."

When they had first gotten out to Los Angeles Katie had moped around the PalmWoods for a long time, not having anyone to hang out with and wondering why she had to move along with her brothers and his friends. But after she had stopped moping and realized the money power that she could have gotten from being a manager, she learned everything that she needed to learn about being a manager, a music producer, a talent manager, and how to run a record company (and that was only taking over Gustavo's job for a day). So she knew how publicists and managers worked. While Riley was out in Minnesota, she was hoping that she would finally be able to sign as someone's talent manager and figured that this was an opportunity she couldn't pass up.

But she was a bit confused with why Ronan's publicist, who in turn was the DarkElements' publicist as they usually decided to work deal with their potential scandals or rumors by themselves, was asking Mrs. Knight to deal with the problem. Ronan was still her manager, so couldn't he still do it while he was back in Los Angeles?

"Yes, but at the moment, I'm the one that's taking care of her while she stays here," Mrs. Knight reminded her. "While she's under this roof I'm the one that has to make sure that things go ok."

"Oh really." Katie folded her hands together. "Did you know that she cried?"

"Well, I figure having to leave her brothers and sister-"

"No, I mean, all night," Katie insisted. "I heard her. She was crying all night long, kind of quietly, I guess so she wouldn't wake us up, but I heard her crying."

"Sweetie, remember how you cried when Kendall was going away to camp that one summer?" Mrs. Knight asked, picking up a pile of pancakes and putting it on a plate. She looked over at Katie and laughed when she saw that her daughter was pretending to try and remember it, knowing that she was just trying to keep from being embarrassed. "C'mon, I know you remember. You were upset because, until then, Kendall had always been there, but she's gone through more than you did, so I can understand why it's hard for her." She reached out and turned Katie's iSlab, turning it off. "And we need to help support her the best we can."

"And I will be," Katie insisted. "As soon as you tell me if you think an interview with MTV or an appearance at the Mall of America is a good idea." She pushed her hair back behind her ears. "Either one will be really good, but I'm leaning more towards the Mall of America…maybe becoming Riley's talent manager."

"Katie!" Mrs. Knight gave her a disapproving look. "She's supposed to be here on vacation."

"So is Kendall but he's already working _and_ he's going to try out for the All Star Team," Katie practically whined. "And if Riley can't normally sit still anyway, what makes you think that she can actually take time _away_ from doing interviews and appearances? C'mon mom, you know it's a good idea, I'll do a good job."

"It's not that I don't think you'll do a good job, it's that you haven't really asked Riley whether or not she would like you to take over the job while Ronan's not here," Mrs. Knight said. "You should probably ask Ronan, too."

Though she would bet that Ronan wouldn't really have a problem with it, he was always willing to help whoever needed help in the industry. He had even hired Stephanie King to work as one of the Jacksons' back-up dancers when it came to starting up with their music again, after their break was over. So having him try to have Katie as Riley's manager while she was out of his site wasn't too far gone of an idea, but to have him completely turn over the reins, she didn't buy that.

"If I wait to ask, that'll take too long," Katie insisted. "I know what I'm doing. So, interview or appearance?"

Mrs. Knight shook her head, knowing that the subject wasn't going to be dropped anytime soon. "Appearance," she finally decided. "You'd have a lot of exposure with how many people would be walking by, as well as with those that would flock to see them, so it would be good for both bands." She sucked in a sharp breath. "Which is the same thing I said when it came to the fact that the morning news show wants to do an interview with them too." She bobbed her head. "Well, more with Kendall, since it's the whole, he left and came back a star sort of thing, and then Riley too, because not many big stars come here."

Katie smiled at her mother, taking a plate that she had offered her. "Aww, Mom, I've rubbed off on you."

"Be quiet and eat," Mrs. Knight said, pulling a stool up to the counter and taking her own plate.

Katie laughed.

The two started eating as Kendall came down the stairs, dropping his beanie on the counter, grabbing a plate of pancake and pouring some syrup and whipped cream on top. Mrs. Knight got his attention by reaching out and grabbing onto his arm. "The newspaper called and said that they want to interview you."

Kendall slowly stopped chewing. "Why?" He nudged Katie on the arm and reached motioned for a glass and the bottle or orange juice. Katie handed it to him before nudging him as well, causing him to slosh some of the juice onto the counter. He stuck his tongue out at her before grabbing a napkin to clean it up.

"They want to talk to you about the All Star Team," Mrs. Knight explained. "Not to give you a big head, but you and the other guys were some of the best hockey players around, but it was obvious that you were the top out of all of them. So they want to talk to you about being a hockey player, going out to LA, and then coming back to try for the team again." She turned around and looked at the refrigerator. "It's not that you haven't done an interview with the newspaper before."

Kendall gave a sheepish smile when he looked at the newspaper clippings that adorned the front of the refrigerator. "I guess I'm just surprised as to why they care now. But, it sounds cool."

Katie gave Mrs. Knight a smug smile. Mrs. Knight waited for Kendall to turn back to his plate before she mouthed _don't bring it up yet_ to her. Katie rolled her eyes, her head slumping towards her plate. But she listened to her mother and kept her mouth shut.

"And the morning news also wants to do a interview with you and Riley if that's OK with you, too," Mrs. Knight added.

"Sounds good to me." Kendall shrugged. "I mean, they must be excited that someone left St. Paul and actually came back." He laughed. "So it's one more interview, what harm could it do?"

The three of them were halfway through their breakfast when Riley came down, her hair hanging in her face, wet and stringy, fresh from a shower. She took the seat next to Mrs. Knight and took the plate that she offered her. They watched, wide eyed, as she grabbed the bottle of syrup and turned it upside down, pouring it onto the sausages that were on her plate, a deep pool being made around them. She then picked up her first pancake with her hands and took a large bite out of it.

Kendall laughed. "Not hungry, huh?" He was teasing her, but he couldn't help but notice that she had her jaw set.

"Whatever." Riley dismissed him, her eyes flashing. She dropped her pancake onto her plate as she chewed. "I was trying to be polite. Or else I could be like you and…" she used her fingertips to draw a heart in the air. "Wear my heart on my sleeve." She tilted her head to the side and gave a sweet smile as Kendall lowered his, giving her a look of annoyance.

Katie laughed loudly and gave Riley a high-five. Even Mrs. Knight held a hand over her mouth to cover her laughter.

"You're not funny," Kendall said.

"I'm hysterical," Riley corrected him. She took another bite of her pancake. "Sarcasm; just another fucking great thing about me." She sighed heavily, dropping her pancake back onto her plate and started to mess with the studded wrist band on her right wrist, picking at it with her black fingernails.

Katie looked over at her but didn't say anything. She knew that there were times that she, or any of her siblings, got sudden shifts in moods or the ways they thought of themselves. They couldn't ever think highly of themselves because of the things that their ex-father, Robert, had said about them when he was their manager and their foster parent. One of the ways that he had controlled them, apart from physically abusing them, was by making them believe that no one cared about them and that they had no redeeming qualities about them.

It was difficult to know what to do in a situation like that, so she usually just sat back and waited for things to blow over. Her eyes lit up as she grabbed her iSlab. "You may want to see this, I thought it was interesting." She pulled up the picture of Kendall and Riley and handed it over to Riley, who shrugged, her face lightly twitching, before handing it over to Kendall.

He didn't look bothered by it either. "So what?" he asked. "People make news about nothing, and even if it was true, which it obviously isn't what's so weird about an eighteen year old guy kissing a girl?"

"Nothing," Mrs. Knight said. "You hit the nail on the head; they make news about nothing because they need something to have news about."

"Right." Katie nodded. "Before you know it, Camille and Logan are going to break up, again and this'll be old news." She looked at her watch. "Uh, Kendall, aren't you going to be late for work?" Kendall pulled his phone out of his pocket and his eyes widened when he saw what time it was. He quickly took another bite of his breakfast before jumping down from his stool, grabbing his beanie and sliding it over his hair. He called a 'goodbye' before running out the front door. "My brother, the role model, always late for work."

"At least he has a job that he can hold down to make money," Mrs. Knight reminded her.

"I can make money if you'd just let me-"

"Katie, drop it!"

Katie pouted.

Mrs. Knight turned to Riley. "There's an offer for you and Kendall to do an interview with the morning show in a couple of days. Talking about your bands of course, Kendall said he'd do it, but I thought that I would ask first since Ronan isn't around to set up your schedule."

"Makes sense since I'm supposed to be on vacay," her words were dripping with sarcasm. Riley sat up straight, giving Mrs. Knight a polite nod. "No worries, I'm sure it'll be fun. I'm not doing much else anyway."

"Sweetie…" Mrs. Knight reached out a hand and gently rubbed Riley's cheek. "You're just going to make yourself have a terrible time if you continue to dwell on the negativity of being here without your brothers and sister. I know that they're not having as easy a time as you think they may be, but it can't be easy for them either. But you can make yourself and then happier if you try to make the best out of this vacation."

Riley gave her a knowing smile. "When you get into the industry a vacation is never just a vacation." She then turned serious. "I just hope that Kendall realizes that things are going to change for him from now on."

* * *

Riley grimaced, making a face as she watched Kendall miss another shot on goal. Even from where she was sitting at the top of the bleachers she could tell how frustrated he was. Almost every shot he had taken that day, he had missed, and it just caused him to break down even further. Riley closed the viewfinder of the video camera and rested her arms on her legs. She watched silently as he continued to skate back and forth across the ice, picking up a puck and shifting it back and forth in front of him. He hadn't had a long day at Sherwood, but she could tell that he was a bit more exasperated than he wanted to let on. If she had to guess, he probably had a lot of fans flocking around him while he was trying to work.

Not that was a far off guess, there were already about twenty young girls sitting on the bleachers below him, giggling, fawning over him, and taking as many pictures as they possibly could. Every now and then, then would turn around and take pictures of Riley too, but she ignored it the best that she could. She complied and posed for pictures and gave autographs when they first came in, but then retreated to the top part of the bleachers to watch him practice, just like she had (stupidly) promised when they had gotten to Minnesota the day before.

Kendall let out a loud sound of annoyance, taking off his helmet and throwing it across the rink where it skidded across the ice and crashed into the boards on the other side. He started to pull off his gloves and Riley got to her feet, noisily walking down the bleachers, over to him. She sat down on the portion of the boards where Plexiglas wasn't blocking off the ice from the seats, right by the players' bench. Kendall skated off of the ice and sat down on the bench, taking off all of his gear, his jaw set.

"Do you want me to say something or do you just want to act like nothing happened?" Riley continued to look at the camera in her hands. "Cause I'm good with either."

"Why bother denying it?" Kendall pulled off his skates and dropped them to the ground. "I played like crap."

"But you can't expect to suddenly play like, like, a god again," Riley reminded him. "You haven't really played in three years; it's going to take some time to get back to where you used to be." She then motioned over to the girls that were still sitting on the bleachers, waiting for Kendall to come over. "Though I doubt that they would care."

Kendall grinned as he lifted his head to look at her. "Jealous?" he asked, his eyes flashing.

Riley snorted. "Please," she said shortly. "I'm not a jealous person. Besides, if I'm not mistaken, and I'm not, you're the one that has the super psychotic jealous tendencies." She messed with the camera, turning it this way and that, as if she was looking for something. _Boofhead._

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Kendall picked up all of his gear and packed it into his bag. "Riles?" She looked at him. "Do you think that I'll be ready for the tryouts when it comes around? What if everyone makes a big deal out of this opportunity and I don't get it?"

"Think like that and you won't, you're being too aggro on yourself." Riley ran a hand through her hair. "It'll come good, dude."

Kendall didn't look convinced, but he still gathered all of his things and changed back into his street shoes. He slung his bag over his shoulder and stood up, waiting for Riley to jump down from the wall before walking over to the fans that were waiting for him. He gave a bright smile and posed for as many pictures and signed as many autographs as he could. For some of the pictures they even brought Riley into some of the pictures before they started to walk back to the house. (it was strange to Riley, at first, as she was used to having to drive everywhere instead of being able to walk wherever they needed to go).

"So do you like Minnesota yet?" Kendall adjusted his bag across his back.

"I haven't seen anything." Riley shortly. "I've just been around your neighborhood, in your house, and at the ice rink, that's it. I don't have an opinion yet."

"Whatever." Kendall ran a hand through his hair, pulling his phone from his pocket as it rang. "Mom wants to know what we want for lunch. I'm in the mood for fish-"

"-chicken," Riley said at the same time.

Kendall gave her a smug look. "Well, I'm her son, so I think she'll go with what I want."

Riley lifted her chin. "Well, I'm her guest. Her unwitting guest, but her guest, so I think she'll go with what _I_ want." She noticed Kendall's raised eyebrow and held out a hand. "Ok, paper, scissors, rock for it." Kendall held out his fist and the two of them slapped their fists against their outstretched palms three times. On the last time, Kendall threw down a rock and Riley threw down her middle finger.

"What's that?" Kendall laughed.

"The bird," Riley said simply. "It's not giving a fuck and it beats everything." She shoved her hands into her jeans pockets and started to walk away from him. Kendall shook his head and followed her.

_If only I could say the same for me._

* * *

**A/N: **I'm glad you guys are enjoying the story so far. You'll figure out what's going on with Riley soon, maybe in the next chapter actually, and you'll see even more of how she deals without her family around her. Of course there's going to be some drama or else it wouldn't be a story, haha, and that'll probably start with the next chapter as well.

Cheers,

-Riles


	4. Ignited

**.:Chapter 04 - Ignited:.**

* * *

_"And how long have you been playing hockey?"_

_I've been doing interviews with you since I was, like, five and you still want to know how long I've been playing hockey? _Kendall continued to scroll through his ScuttleButter as he pressed the house phone against his ear with his shoulder. He smiled at a scuttbutt that Camille made, complaining about how much she loved yoga, but hating to wake up early. "I've been playing for about fourteen years now," Kendall replied. "Since I started when I was four. Though in the past couple of years while I've been doing Big Time Rush, I haven't been able to play as much as I've wanted."

_"What would you say was the hardest thing, transitioning wise, when it came to playing hockey to going to start one of the most successful boy bands that we have ever seen?"_

"Having to work a different set of muscles," Kendall said slowly. Across from him, Katie nodded encouragingly. She had another phone against her ear and was taking notes, listening, as Kendall continued to do his interview with the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "Because playing hockey is a completely different world than being in a boy band. I've had to work ten times harder with the band that I've had to for hockey, but let me tell you, they're both difficult but rewarding."

Katie's smile widened and she nodded again.

_"Alright, I think that's everything, thanks Kendall. We'll keep an eye out for you while the tryouts for the All Star Team get started."_

"Thanks, bye." Kendall pulled the phone from his ear and pressed the 'END' button before replacing it on the receiver. He then turned and gave Katie a high-five and he closed his laptop. He pushed his hair out of his face, resting his arms on the counter as he leaned towards Katie. "Alright, you can cross the interview with the Pioneer Press off the list, what else did Mom schedule for me to do?"

Katie hummed to herself as she scanned the list that was in front of her. After the Pioneer Press has called their mother asking if Kendall would do the interview, as well as the early morning show interview that had been scheduled for him and Riley, he had already been asked to make an appearance at his old high school as well as to check out a couple of Pee Wee hockey games. And that was that came up so far, she still hadn't told them about the possibility of doing the appearance at the Mall of America. And it wasn't because she didn't think that they would want to do it, it was because there were some other things that she was trying to schedule along with it that would put the whole day to use as well as kick-start her resume.

"Not much," Katie said, putting her notepad down. "And that's only because you still have to remember that you're trying to have some time for yourself." She beamed at her brother. "And for me." Kendall laughed and reached out, ruffling her hair before the two of them did their family 'handshake'. She chewed her lower lip. "But I'm worried about you getting really busy, bro," she said. "And have you noticed that the phone has been ringing off the hook? Lately and it's usually people looking for you."

"No need to get worried, Baby Sister," Kendall said. "I know what I'm doing." He leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the head. "I love you, but sometimes you sound like mom. I wouldn't agree to do this if I didn't think that I couldn't do it."

Katie knew that he was referring to both playing hockey and having to work on Big Time Rush. He knew from the very beginning that if he was going to take a vacation there was going to be the chance that he was going to have to do some appearances. But he probably never thought that he was going to have the ability to potentially get the chance to live a dream that he had since he was basically born.

"What if you had the choice?" Katie looked hard at her brother. "Between the band and hockey? What if you absolutely _had_ to make that choice?"

"Well I don't have to, now do I?" Kendall replied smartly. "I haven't even made the team." He started to mess with the leather bracelet that was on his right wrist, pulling at the extra fabric.

Katie gave her brother a proud smile. "But you will, I know you will."

_That's one of us. _Kendall laced his fingers together, resting his elbows on the counter.

It was strange to him, it was probably the first time in his life that he had ever felt a sense of uncertainty when it came to anything that he tried and he had no idea why. It was very unsettling to him, usually he could play hockey and not have to even think about what was going to happen next, it just happened. But when he first tried playing again a couple of days ago, nothing went right. It was even more frustrating and embarrassing that the fans were there…even more importantly that Riley was there to watch him crash and burn. He wouldn't say that he would play his best to impress her, because he played for the love of the game and for himself, but her support really did help him. It sucked that she had to see him when he wasn't playing well, though it wasn't the first time, but not that badly.

"Hey Riles," Katie greeted, her eyes moving past her brother and over to Riley as she walked into the kitchen. She laughed when she noticed that Yuma was following close behind her, almost sitting on her heels. She studied the older teenage girl as she leaned against the counter, crossing her arms over her chest. "You look great."

"Thanks Katie," Riley twirled the end of one of her pigtails around her finger looking down at her simple outfit, a black and red t-shirt that showed off some of her stomach, black jean shorts, with a black studded belt and chains hanging off of the belt loops, and her black vans with red flames. She was wearing a little bit of black eye-liner and had some red eye shadow that faded into black above each eye.

"No problem," Katie replied. She turned to Kendall, giving an innocent smile as he looked back at her suspiciously. "What do you think of what Kendall's wearing? I mean, he's going to be on TV too, I don't want him embarrassing us Knights. Have you seen his clothes lately?"

"Thanks Katie," Kendall said with a half smile. He turned his gaze to Riley, watching as she leaned over to scratch Yuma under the chin. "But it would be good to get your opinion."

"You care too much about what I think, Eyebrows" Riley remarked. But she stood up and motioned for Kendall to stand as well. She put a hand up to her chin and stood in front of him, looking him up and down. She twisted her mouth as she tilted her head to the side. Kendall looked away, trying to push down the feeling of butterflies that erupted in his stomach at that one movement. "Give me this, Kendoll," she reached out and tapped his belt with her fingernail.

Kendall undid his belt and handed it to her. He waited as she pulled off the hat that he was wearing, ignoring the 'stupid-grandpa-hat' comment that she said under her breath and dutifully waited as she used her hands to push his hair into his face. She then took a step back and looked him up and down before nodding. "There you go,"

"Thanks." Kendall sat back down on his stool, pulling up the sleeves to the sweater that he was wearing. He rested his elbows on the counter and laced his fingers together, looking at his leather wristband again. "Did you eat yet?"

"Yes, Dad," Riley replied. "And in case you're wondering, Dak said he was going to skype me later, so you may want to find a shotgun to threaten him with." She uncrossed her arms and looked at him critically. "You're worrying about the tryouts again aren't you?"

"How do you _do_ that?" Katie asked. It always scared her how she and her siblings, well, probably the whole Jackson family, were so perceptive. Even if someone didn't know that something was bothering them, they could easily notice that something was wrong and get it out of them in seconds.

"What else would he worry about?" Riley rolled her eyes. "The ozone layer? I figured that fear went flying out the window after spending so much time with James. He uses so much hair spray that I'm surprised he doesn't just have a magnifying glass attracting the sun's light over his head." She then looked at Katie, lightly grabbing onto her chin and tilting her head back. "That's not your color, Kid," she said, looking at the pale pink that adorned her lips. "D'you mind?"

Katie gave a soft smile as she shook her head.

Riley reached into her pocket and pulled out a tube of lip-gloss. She used her teeth to unscrew the cap before pushing out a little bit and spreading it over Katie's lips. She replaced the lip-gloss in her pocket and grabbed a paper towel, handing it over to Katie. She waited for the younger girl to blot her lips as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and pulled up the mirror app, handing her phone over to her so she could see.

"Wow, that's so much better!" Katie looked up at Riley with a bright smile. "Thanks!"

"You're welcome."

Riley scratched the side of her face and Katie couldn't help but notice that a faraway look came to her eyes as she ran her finger over the scar that was there, repeatedly. She kept forgetting that it was there, actually. Since Katie had known Riley, she had always worn makeup to cover the scars that were on her body, but when she and her siblings announced their abuse, they had made a deal saying that they had to stop using the makeup on their scars. This scar that was on her face was pretty easy to see; it started on her jaw on her right side and went up a little onto her cheek. As soon as you looked at her you noticed it, but she seemed to forget that it was there. Katie turned to look at Kendall, but he was still looking at his bracelet.

Riley finally shook her head and came back to life, the light returning to her eyes as she looked at Katie. "So what are you going to do while you're home?" Riley asked her. "Are you going to stay in the house all day or try and see if you can find some other way to trick blokes out of their moolah?"

"I have to go back to school," Katie grumbled, resting her chin in her hand.

"Uh, but aren't you-"

"School here doesn't end until mid June," Kendall interrupted. Riley nodded slowly, though she gave him a sharp look for being interrupted. He didn't bother to say anything about it. "So as soon as Monday comes around, Katie's going to be going back to school."

"Which is _so_ not fair." Katie continued to gripe. "I have to sit there for seven…eight hours a day, learning things that I probably already learned back in PalmWoods School." She threw her hands into the air. "I mean, how else am I going to learn what to do to start my own business?"

"Listen to Donald Trump," Kendall said. "Or in that case, how _not_ to run a business." Katie slapped herself on the forehead as Kendall and Riley laughed. Sometimes she didn't get Kendall's sense of humor, but she was glad that there was at least one person that got it. Katie pushed back her stool and got down. "I'm going to see what's taking Mom so long."

Katie walked out of the kitchen and through the living room. She went upstairs and walked down the hallways to her mother's room. She raised her hand to knock on the door, but stopped when she heard her mother's voice. Curious, Katie gently pushed on the door and peered inside to see Mrs. Knight walking back and forth across the room as she finished getting dressed. One time she grabbed her earrings to put in, another time she was putting makeup on her face, and then she started to look for her shoes. At first Katie wasn't sure who she had been talking to, but then she spotted the iPhone sitting on the bed, on a call, set on speakerphone.

_"So how are things going with her now?"_ Ronan's voice came out of the phone. _"It's been a couple of days, has she cooled down yet?"_

"I think she's starting to get that she's not going home soon," Mrs. Knight replied. "She used to give short answers, have a challenging edge to her tone, or just not say anything at all, but now we can get full sentences out of her, she's starting to sound more like herself."

_"That's good."_ Katie could hear Ronan's sigh of relief. _"But have you been keeping a close eye on her?"_

Mrs. Knight laughed. "I haven't needed to; if she's not just watching TV, sitting in the guest room on her laptop with music blaring, or tape Kendall as he gets ready for hockey tryouts, then Kendall's with her." She tucked a stray piece of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear. "Though everyone knows the reason behind that. But he and Katie want her to have a good time here just as badly as you do."

_"Yeah, but for completely different reasons."_

Mrs. Knight briefly closed her eyes, resting a hand on her forehead. She turned back towards her bed as if Ronan was actually there, speaking to her phone. "Don't you think that you're overreacting a little bit with what happened?"

_"Kace, I don't think anyone can overreact to four of their five kids being arrested."_

Katie's mouth dropped open and she quickly put a hand over it before she gave herself away. Mrs. Knight looked up at the ceiling before sitting down on the bed and picking up the phone, holding it by her mouth. "But you're forgetting that Kendall and the guys have been arrested before, too, when they first met up with Gustavo."

_"No, that was being brought home, I mean actually being arrested,"_ Ronan insisted. He yawned. _"I'd ask to talk to her, but I know that she would probably bite my head off. I'll call later tonight."_ He paused. _"Thanks for doing this for me, Kacy. I know that all of you guys were ready to go off on vacation for some time apart from each other, but I'm glad that you all could take them in on such short notice."_

"You know I'd do it no questions asked," Mrs. Knight said. "Take care of yourself, ok?"

_"Yeah, no problem."_ There was a shuffling sound and then Katie could hear Ronan's muffled voice on the phone as well as a higher pitched one. _"Oh, and Syd says 'hi'."_

"Tell him we say 'hi' too," Mrs. Knight replied. "I'll talk to you after we get back from the studio. Bye."

Katie quickly turned from the door and headed back down the stairs and into the living room. Riley was sitting on the couch, her ear buds in her ears, bobbing her head to the music that was playing in them. Kendall was sitting on the other end, flipping through the sports packages that they had. Kendall turned to his little sister as she entered the room.

"Is Mom coming?" he asked, looking at his watch. Katie nodded quietly, looking at Riley out of the corner of her eye. Kendall looked at his watch. "We're going to be late if we don't get going soon."

"Speaking of, is there a rental place out here?" Riley pulled her ear buds out of her ears. "'Cause, I'd rather not have to use Mama Knight's car the whole time we're here."

"We can probably stop by one on the way back," Kendall said. He got up and started to pace. "This is really throwing off my schedule. I need to do this interview and then get back so I can go to work and then get some more practicing in."

"But you just went on a run this morning," Katie pointed out.

"Part of my plan," Kendall explained. "I already have to stay in shape so that we can continue with Big Time Rush when we get back from our vacations. So, I figured that I go running in the morning, do workouts in the afternoon before dinner, and get some work done whenever Mr. Stayton schedules me to go to work."

"Uh-huh." Katie wasn't convinced. She didn't think that Mr. Stayton would keep him working if Kendall didn't want to. She knew that there was another reason that Mr. Stayton wanted him there and made a mental note to talk to him about it later as well as with trying to find a way to not have to go to school. Her hazel eyes drifted over to the couch, more pointedly to the space that was between her brother and his best friend.

She made a mental note to work on that too.

* * *

Kendall poured himself a cup of coffee as he waited backstage at KARE Sunrise to go on. Mrs. Knight had left the room moments earlier to answer Gustavo's phone call, and Katie had split just as soon as they had gotten there, saying that she was going to see how a TV show really worked. (Especially since the last time she was there she was so preoccupied with her video game that she wreaked havoc with a security kart. Mrs. Knight had told her that anytime they went to a studio after that, she couldn't have anything but her phone). It was probably the quietest green room that he had ever been in. Usually when he was waiting to go do some sort of interview, he had James, Logan, and Carlos with him; they would all be on their phones, talking about videos that they had seen online, or about shows that they were catching up on Netflix, or finding something to do in the green room. And when all of the DarkElements were there, they'd be talking about nothing and laughing their asses off in a matter of minutes.

Not that he didn't enjoy the company he had now, what self respecting eighteen year old guy wouldn't enjoy being able to spend most of their free time with a very attractive eighteen year old teenage girl that also just so happened to be their best friend? But he didn't realize how weird it was not to have his best buds around, especially not after everything that they had gone through working on Big Time Rush. In was weird being in Minnesota in general without them there, every time he had been there, all of them were there. Even when James was mad that they were giving up the opportunity after Griffin shut them down before their first concert, they had all been there. It was still hard for him to adjust.

Kendall finished pouring himself coffee and turned to sit back down on the couch. Riley moved to the side, her eyes stuck to a video that was playing on her phone. Kendall nudged her shoulder and held out the Styrofoam cup. "Coffee?"

"You _know_ I don't like coffee, Hockey-Head," Riley said. She lifted her head and gave him a funny look. "Apart from the bad taste and the way it stains your teeth, it also stunts your growth."

Kendall reached out and put a hand on her head, emphasizing their height difference. "I don't think you really have that problem, Shorty."

Riley smacked his hand away and glared at him, pointing a finger in his face. "One day all the short people in this world are going to rise up and kick you in the kneecaps," she warned.

"Can they reach?" Kendall took a sip of his coffee, wincing as it burned his tongue. He pulled out his phone and put up a scuttbutt to his fans about where he was and to watch out for him on the show before handing his phone over to Riley to take a picture of him. When he had put his phone away, he was surprised when she leaned close to him, her cheek near his.

"Check out this video." She held her phone out so the two of them could look at the video. "There's this kid, who's only ten, and he's playing the guitar like Santana." She started the video and the two of them watched the video. She then lowered the phone and turned to him. "You can't tell me that that's not talent."

"It is," Kendall agreed. He took another sip of his coffee. "But I can't see how serious he is about it." He shrugged. "Being able to play that well, you know as well as I do, takes dedication and a lot of practice. For all that we could tell, he could have been fake-playing it." Riley frowned, her eyebrows twitching. "I don't mean to knock him-"

Riley held a hand up in front of his face, the same thing she always did to get someone to stop talking. It was something that each of her siblings did, Rhuben clapped her hands in front of the person's face, Patrick would lean forward and stare hard at the person, Noah would give a sigh so big as well as a condescending look, and Sydney would drum his fingers on whatever surface was closest to him. "You're going in circles, mate, what do you mean?"

"My point..." Kendall reached up and grabbed onto her hand, lacing his fingers with hers. He lowered their hands and grabbed onto her other one. "See?" He moved his fingers so that they weren't laced together and then rested the tips of his on hers. "Look, you and I have calluses on our fingers because we're constantly playing the guitar."

"Yeah…" Riley said slowly, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"And it'd take years of _not _playing to have those go away," Kendall continued. "And I can usually spot calluses pretty easily, and I didn't see any on that kid's hands."

"Do you have a hand fetish or something?" Riley shook her head. "You're one to talk," Riley said with a half smile. "You're the one with fucking girl hands."

"I _don't_ have girl hands!" But Kendall couldn't help but inspect them. He frowned. They weren't girly hands. They were manly hands, very manly hands. There was nothing girly about them, thank you very much.

"Oh don't worry about it though…" Riley said, as if reassuring him. "Your girl hands can match your girly name. Cause, let's face it, Kendall's a girl's name."

Kendall could feel his blood starting to boil a little bit. It was how any of their 'fights' started out. One of them made a comment that purposefully annoyed the other person, and then they were in some sort of disagreement that typically had no winner, or, if it was sports related, they would find themselves challenging each other to see who was better at something. But, in a weird way, that was something that he liked, too. When it came to him and the other guys, things would get blown completely out of control, just like when the fight over a video game and the best controller resulted in James, Carlos, and Logan moving out of the crib for a short while.

"Oh yeah?" Kendall cocked an eyebrow as he smirked at her. "And what's 'Riley'? I'm sure that's a boy's name."

"Actually, Kendork, Riley is a unisex name," Riley said. "Meaning that a guy or a girl could use it. Now, what I'm wondering is how could your mother come up with a girl's name for you…" she twirled a hand. "Unless it was from your father." She shrugged. "Then you were fucking doomed from the start."

"Thanks for that vote of confidence," Kendall replied. He peered at her. "So how'd you get your name? I mean, you know my family and wanting a 'K' with every name. It's how I kept my mom from naming Katie, 'Apple'."

Riley's eyes lifted so that she was looking just above Kendall's head. She looked sad, but she had a small smile on her face. "Actually, my name is a mixture from the two names that my mum and dad were stuck with," she said.

"The doctors thought that Rhu and I were going to be boys so they picked out boys names. They already knew they wanted the name Reuben, but they were stuck on mine. It was either going to be Riley or Landon. So when we were born and they realized that we were girls, they still gave Rhubes the name, but changed the spelling. Then for me, they still couldn't agree on the name, since they liked the idea of having boys' names on girls, so my dad opted to put the names together. They smushed the two names together and named me Rilandon and with Riley as a nickname. And since we were their first set of twins, though they didn't know they were going to have Pat and No, they wanted to keep the names similar. So they gave Rhuben the name Rhubella, and the nickname Rhuben."

She started to speak softly. "My mum always used to call me her little Ri-Ri, but, like 'my little Ri-Ri'. Especially when she comforted me, like if I was scared of the dark or a thunderstorm or something."

"Oh." Kendall didn't know what to say to that. He didn't know much about her parents, only what she or her siblings would bring up every now and then in a brief moment. That was the most that he had heard about them in a while. It was also one of the few times that she would open herself to him like that. "Do you think-"

"Excuse me." The intern for KARE Sunrise said with a shy smile as he stepped into the room. He held up a mic pack. "They're ready for you to go on, Kendall. Your mother and sister are already waiting just off stage to watch."

"Alright, thanks, man." Kendall pulled his hands away from Riley's and climbed off the couch, lowering the bottom of his shirt over the waist band of his boxers and jeans, walking over to him.

The intern then turned to Riley to address her. "And we'll come and get you after the commercial break."

"No worries," Riley said, lifting her feet up onto the couch and crossing them at the ankle. She was still rubbing her arm, before clenching and unclenching her hands.

Kendall got a mic pack clipped to the back of his jeans and a microphone run up his shirt and clipped onto his collar. He then followed the intern through the winding hallways and to the set. He was stopped by Katie, who had her glasses up on her face, and he knew that she meant business whenever she wore those glasses or, what she called, her 'power suit'.

Kendall smiled at her. "Did you find someone to sign to your team, Baby Sister?"

"Maybe," Katie replied. "Rumor has it that Austin Mahone is around here somewhere and I'm sure that he would love to sign with me." She smiled confidently, holding her contract to her chest. Kendall raised an eyebrow.

"I'm just making sure; you remember that you have a boyfriend right?" Kendall looked hard at his sister.

"That doesn't mean that I can't say that anyone else is attractive," Katie defended herself. She snorted. "That never stops James anyway." She placed a hand on her brother's elbow and turned him towards the set. "Now, go plant your butt in that chair, smile pretty, and make me and mom proud, Big Brother."

Kendall laughed and walked over to the empty chair that was by Diana Pierce, Julie Nelson, and Randy Shaver, the three top anchors for KARE Sunrise. He didn't even have to be on the show to know who they were, as his mother religiously watched the news every morning when she was trying to stall from doing her daily workout. He just never thought that he was going to be on it, especially for something that he would have never thought that he would do in a million years. But it was good publicity and he knew that Gustavo would kill him if he didn't take the opportunity. As Kendall sat down, a makeup artist walked over and quickly swiped a brush over his face before disappearing as fast as she had approached.

Kendall sat up straight in his chair as the song Elevate began to play over the speakers. He smiled to himself as it was always one of his favorite songs. Diana, Julie, and Randy started to bop along to the music before they started to speak into the camera, getting cued in.

"Yay!" Julie had a megawatt smile on her face. "Somebody was thinking, somebody was smart here."

"It's a good song," Randy agreed.

"Yes, well, you all know it." Diana agreed. "That's what fans of Rocque Records' Big Time Rush or BTR would recognize."

"But, did you know that the band's leader, Kendall Knight, is also here to visit us." Randy pushed his glasses up his nose. "And he's here to tell us more about his musical ambition, Big Time Rush, and being back home in Minnesota."

"So thanks for joining us today, Kendall," Julie said. She turned in her seat to smile at him, reaching out to quickly touch his arm, as she was sitting the closest to him.

Kendall smiled warmly in reply, quickly falling into his professional mode. "Thank you, I have so much to talk about." He looked over at his mother and Katie, who were standing right behind the cameras, smiling at him.

"You do," Julie agreed. "But first, let's talk about Big Time Rush. It's huge; did you ever expect it to be so big when you first got the gig?"

"Ah, haha." Kendall chuckled when a video of some of their concert footage came up on the screen behind him. "No, not at all. I mean, I didn't even want to be in the band. Ever since I was a kid, my mind was always hockey, hockey, hockey. That was all that I wanted to do. But…when I got the opportunity to go out to LA with Gustavo, I said 'no', until I convinced him to bring my best buds with me and be a group and…it all stemmed from here."

"Why do you think they love it so much?" Diana leaned forward in her seat. "The fans, I mean."

"I think the fans love an underdog story," Kendall said honestly. "I mean, how any more underdog can you get with four hockey players from Minnesota that have never sung or danced together and don't know how the music industry works?" He laughed along with the anchors.

"But from what we can understand, you guys have been given a lot of help," Randy said.

"Oh yeah, from Gustavo Rocque and Kelly Wainright, they've been helpful throughout our whole career," Kendall said. He knew, from Katie's guidance, that he had to mention Gustavo and Kelly at one point so they would feel appreciated. "And from my Mom of course, she's a really great Momager to all of us."

"Momager?" Julie turned to her co-anchors with a light laugh. "Is that the new term for it now? When your mother is around to help you with everything?"

"That's what we call it," Kendall insisted. "My Mom is the best person that we could have as a manager, I don't think we could think of anyone else to use." His eyes drifted over to Katie and he raised the right side of his mouth in a smile. "Well, maybe my little sister, Katie, but other than that, no one else could be as good as my Mom."

"But it's also widely known that you've all had help from another band that has been breaking the US charts as well," Diana said. She turned to her camera. "And we'll introduce one of the people that have helped them when we get back." The light above the camera went out and makeup people started to retouch the anchors' faces.

"Good job so far, bro," Katie said as she walked over to her brother. She put her phone into her pocket. "So, I got the news that there are a lot of fans out in the parking lot waiting for you, I think after the interview is done, you should sign as many of them as you can, but not taking out too much time, you still have to get to work on time."

"Katie, seriously, if Mom ever takes a day off, you could be my manager," Kendall said with a proud smile. "Only thing is, you have to promise that you won't run me into the ground and give me time to be able to play some video games."

Katie smiled back.

"Good interview," Riley said as she walked over to the empty chair next to Kendall and sat down. "I especially like all of the shout outs that you gave out." She wiggled her fingers before resting her cheek in her hand.

"You're being sarcastic aren't you?" Katie asked, turning to her. She laughed when Riley merely winked back at her.

"No, seriously, that was really good," Riley sat up straight, fixing her hair. "You didn't seem to get as nervous as you usually do." She placed a hand by her mouth and leaned towards Katie. "And we all know that he has a nervous bladder."

"I heard that!" Kendall said.

"I know, I said it out loud," Riley replied.

Katie noticed that the cameras were about to start rolling again and quickly hurried off set, back behind the cameras. Kendall re-crossed his legs and waited as the light above the cameras came back on before he smiled at the camera and at the anchors.

"We're back with our very own Kendall Knight, who hails from right here in St. Paul, Minnesota," Randy said. "We were just saying that he was taken from his upbringing of nothing but hockey and was thrust into the music industry when Gustavo got his chance to take his 'fire' out to LA. But they didn't know what they were doing and got help."

"And that's where our next guest comes in," Julie said. She held out an arm. "Please welcome Riley Jackson from the DarkElements."

"Jackson-McGuire, actually," Riley corrected her, immediately switching to her Australian accent from the American one that she used when she was in the US or just talking to her friends. When Robert had first suggested that they go to the US to try and break the market there, he made her and her siblings learn how to speak in an American accent so they could relate better. As it was easier for them, anytime that they were in the US, they spoke with their American accents, but used their native accent when they were talking to fans, on the radio, at appearances, or on TV. "G'day thanks for having me here."

"Oh, I just love your accent, it's so cute," Diana said.

"Thanks." Riley's smile widened as she tucked her strand of red hair behind her ear. She uncrossed and crossed her legs. "I hear that people like it, but I don't really get that it's cute very often, so that's something good to hear."

"So you and your brothers and sisters have been working with Big Time Rush, right?" Randy asked.

"Yes, we've been helping them for the past two years," Riley agreed.

"They were under the contract with Rocque Records to help us when we first came out there," Kendall explained. "Riley was our stylist, Rhuben our choreographer, Patrick and Noah helped with song writing and vocals, and Sydney helped with mixing. At the same time Dak Zevon had been contracted to help us with stage presence and confidence and all that. After we put out our second album, they were released from their contracts but they still help us whenever they can."

"So I guess you can say that they got under your skin, big time," Julie said.

Kendall laughed politely as Riley tried her hardest not to grimace or make a face. No one could even begin to count how many times they had heard that joke or some sort of a pun on 'rush' over the years that they had been working together. To quote Patrick, he didn't notice how often people used those words or phrases until they had named their band and it was everywhere.

Julie must have noticed the looks on their faces because she apologized. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. So, Riley, you and your family have been in the music industry for a long time?"

"Ha, maybe too long," Riley replied. "Yeah, us older kids, me, Rhu, Patrick, and Noah, have been working in the industry for about…nine years now, we started when we were kids and we've been working ever since."

"Do you really see it as just work?" Diana asked, her eyebrows furrowing together.

"Would you call it work if you were around your best mates 24/7 for the past nine years?" Riley smirked. "We do and don't see it as work. There's no doubt that when we're figuring out what we want our stage to look like and the lighting that that's work. But when we're recording, performing, doing photo shoots, and just creating music from the preliminary writing stages, it's nothing but fun."

"And working with Big Time Rush? How's that for you?" Randy asked.

Riley looked over at Kendall and he smiled back at her. "Ah, it's a blast," she said, honestly. "I can barely remember a day where we didn't hang out with those blokes at some point, though there have been a few. We're all each other's best friends. Rhu and I call them 'our boys'. We can be so protective of them sometimes, just so all of us can be sure that things are going well for them as they work their way through the industry since we've been in it for so long. Dak Zevon, who is another bonzer mate of ours, did that for us when we first came out here, and now we're doing it for them."

"And Kendall how is working with them for you guys? I'm sure they have a lot that they can teach you," Julie said patiently.

"Definitely a lot, definitely," Kendall agreed. "Like she said, they're some of our best friends and I honestly don't know where we'd be without their help. Especially with Rhu's help. Without her amazing choreography, we'd be nowhere. One of the best things about them having grown up while working in the music industry is the fact that they had gone through all of the same things that we have, even if it was back when they were in Australia. So they got us used to a lot of the things that come our way like with our first photo shoot. And they give us advice when it comes to making our new music and how to deal with the press and the media and everything."

"And the press can't be new to you, Mr. Hockey star," Randy agreed. Kendall blushed. "You've been in the news for your hockey skills for years and you're really making St. Paul and all of Minnesota proud from everything that you've accomplished. My nieces are so in love with you and your music and they're excited to see you play in a hockey game soon."

"Uh…" Kendall's mouth dropped open. His anxiety quickly raised, not sure how to respond to that. Tryouts hadn't started yet and he was already getting family members of some of the most well known news anchors telling him that they were excited to see him play. The pressure was starting to get to him. "Well, I haven't really-"

"And no matter what you continue to decide to do, all of us here are going to be behind you one hundred percent," Diane said. "It was such a treat to have you come by today. Both of you."

"It was no problem," Kendall said.

"No worries," Riley added. "Thanks for having me."

The cameras stopped rolling and the two got up from their chairs, thanked the anchors once more, and went back to the green room to get the microphones taken off before they left. Mrs. Knight and Katie walked into the green room after them. They all gathered their things together and left the building, stopping long enough for autographs to be signed for the crowd of fans that were waiting for them.

Kendall was handing a notebook back to a young fan when he heard his name being said by a familiar voice. He turned to see a teenage boy about his age standing by him, a hockey bag slung over his shoulder. "Yo, Killer, I haven't seen you around lately."

"Bomber! How's it going?" Kendall grinned as he and the guy gave each other a bro-hug. He slapped the boy on the shoulder. "I haven't seen you much either!"

"Yeah, but I've gone up to Duluth," the boy said. Kendall lowered his chin and raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, I know, it's Duluth, but it was the best place for me to go so I could get adequate training done for the All Star Team. Tryouts are coming soon, you know."

"I know, I'm going to try out," Kendall said. "Well, I plan on it anyway. I haven't played in a while."

"Hey, maybe that means I'll finally be better than you." The boy then turned and smiled to Mrs. Knight and Katie. "Hey Mrs. K, Little Knight, how are you?"

"I'm doing well, Bobby, thanks," Mrs. Knight replied. "I hope your parents are doing well."

"They're still getting used to things out in Duluth, but otherwise, they're doing well," Bobby said with a nod back. His eyes then moved over to Riley and he let out a short laugh, now slapping Kendall on the shoulder. "So why didn't you tell me that you got a Hockey Hottie? I'm not sure that Kayslee will take it well, but-"

"Excuse me?" Riley's head whipped around to him, her eyes slowly narrowing. "A what?"

"Oh, geez, so she's not your-"

"NO!" In his panic, Kendall extended his arms to its full length, and held his palms out to Bobby, cutting him off. _Hockey pucks! He really put me in a defensive zone. _Kendall's eyes bugged out. "Nononononono! She's my best friend, Riley. Riley, this is Bobby Henson, aka Bomber. He used to go to Highland Park with me and the guys before we went out to LA."

Riley slapped her hand into Bobby's and shook it firmly. "G'day. How ya going?"

"Nice to meet you," Bobby agreed, he gave a warm smile. "Hey, I was only kidding about the hockey hottie thing, I know exactly who you are. Love your music." He looked at his watch before turning to a little girl that had a Big Time Rush folder in her hands, held up over her mouth as she watched them. "And, hey man, thanks for signing my sister's folder. It's not every day she gets to meet a celebrity."

Kendall frowned. Something about the way that he had said that didn't sit well with him. But he smiled and gave Bobby another bro-hug, making plans that the two of them had to meet up to get some hockey practice in together before he left.

"Defenseman?" Riley guessed once he was out of earshot.

"Left wing, but good guess," Kendall replied.

"So, what's a hockey hottie?" Riley drummed her fingers on her arm, waiting for someone to answer her question. Mrs. Knight looked like she wasn't going to answer, Kendall looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die, and Katie looked all too eager to answer.

"A hockey hottie is a hockey player's personal cheerleader," Katie explained. She had a smug smile on her face as Kendall cringed. "It doesn't have to be a girlfriend, but most times it is. They wear the hockey player's jersey, go with them to the parties thrown at the captain's house, if not the captain then the person right underneath the captain, and dote on them and look pretty. Basically they're a bunch of airheads that follow their boyfriends around and try to follow them to the big time."

"Oh." Riley nodded. Her eyes were still narrowed, otherwise she didn't look angry. Kendall, and anyone that had been around her longer than an hour, knew when she was angry. He expected her to scream or yell at him for something like that, demanding to know if he associated himself with it, and was surprised when she didn't say anything. If anything, she seemed a bit distracted.

She scratched the back of her neck, turning to Mrs. Knight. "So…can we still go to that rental place?"

* * *

_"I thought that you were going to get a rental car not a rental motorcycle,"_ Ronan said. Riley smiled, she could hear the exasperation in her father's voice, but could tell that he knew it was coming. _"That's what I assumed anyway."_

"Yeah, so did I, but when I saw it, it was love at first sight and you would have to cut off my fingers to keep me away from it," Riley said. "Though that could be problematic for both of us because I wouldn't be able to play the guitar." She was holding her cell phone to her ear with her shoulder, one hand lightly pulling on her flame necklace, the other spinning a guitar pick through her fingers. "But you should see it dad, it's a 400cc Kawasaki. Didn't cost much to rent."

_"Even if it did, I know you'd talk you way out of me being mad at you about it,"_ Ronan said.

"Come on, you know that you could never be mad at little ol' me," Riley teased. Her smile then faded. "Disappointed maybe, but not mad. Though we all say that being disappointed is worse." She moved the guitar pick faster. "Is Baby Bro asleep? I keep forgetting the time difference."

_"Yeah, he's asleep."_ Ronan yawned. _"I was going to go to sleep soon, myself, but I thought that I'd waited long enough for you to not be mad at me anymore."_ There was a long moment of silence.

Riley stretched her legs out on the comforter and lay back against the pillows on her bed. Her eyes scanned the guest room as she waited for someone to say something. It resembled just about every other guest room in any house that she had been in including her own, so at least that gave her a sense of comfort. The pictures that she had brought along from home helped too.

_"Things aren't easy for the others either, I know for the first week I said that you can't call each other, but I did that just for you to adjust, I thought that it would help. I know that it didn't and I'm sorry."_

"It's not your fault, Dad." Riley dipped her head, her hair falling over her face. "We were the ones who…"

_"I know,"_ Ronan interrupted. _"You don't have to…"_ he quickly changed the subject. _"I'm just glad that you're not mad at me. I'm not mad at you either, any of you guys. And if you can believe it, I hate how quiet tings are, I got too used to having things be so hectic, which, incidentally, is the way I like it."_

"Ooh, incidentally, that's a big word," Riley said. "You must be around Syd a lot."

She felt a wave of sadness wash over her when, once again, she realized how long she was going to be away from her brothers and sister. They were used to spending every second of every day with at least one other sibling, people would think that they would get annoyed being around each other, and they did occasionally, but things were fine just the way it was. It was weird not to turn around and see your mirror image or similar facial structure looking back at you. When they realized that Ronan was serious about them having separate vacations, they did everything together. Even on their last night before they went to the airport Patrick, Noah, and Sydney had slept in the same bed and Riley and Rhuben had slept in the same bed. They hadn't done that in years and it was the idea of being separated that caused them to revert like that.

_"Now I understand how annoyed you get with him using such big words all the time,"_ Ronan joked. _"Make sure you're getting some sleep, ok."_

"I'm trying." Riley's voice quivered. "But you know how I am in different places." She brought her knees up to her chest. "I miss you, Daddy."

_"I miss you too, RipCurl,"_ Ronan replied. "_All of you guys, you have no idea. But you'll be home soon. I have to go now. I better not hear about you destroying Kacy's kitchen."_

"Me? Never." Riley smiled.

_"You? Always."_ Ronan chuckled. _"I'll talk to you soon."_

Riley hung up her phone and tossed it to the end of her bed. She reached over to the nightstand and picked up the book that she had been reading the past couple of days as insomnia and fear of sleeping continued to plague her. She had barely gotten through the next chapter when there was a knock on her door.

"Come in," she called.

"Hey." Kendall smiled as he walked into the room, carrying a mug in his hand. He went over to the bed and held it out to her. "I figured that you were still having trouble sleeping and thought that this would help, my Mom said it worked for us when we were little."

Riley warily took the mug and sniffed it before peering inside. "This doesn't have alcohol in it, does it?"

Kendall blinked, slowly looking suspicious. "You know, I'm not sure." He climbed onto the bed next to her, lying on his stomach. He crossed his arms and turned his head to the side, resting his cheek on them, looking at her with one eye. "So I've got a story for you."

Riley leaned forward and poked his cheek with her nose, causing him to smile. "Lay it on me, Hockey-Head." She sat up and marked her page in her book and closed it, replacing it on the nightstand along with the mug. She grabbed a pillow and laid it across her lap, resting her arms on top. "I could really use it right now."

Kendall stretched his arms in front of him before re-crossing them under his chin. His bicep pressed against her thigh. She became acutely aware of the smell of Old Spice. "So I was working at the store and I was the one that had to stock the shelves this time, right? Like, I had to push the large cart around the store to fill up whatever had already been taken, go back to the stock room, and get more whenever the cart was empty." Riley nodded. "And when I was working on a shelf, some old lady came up to me and asked if I could do her a favor. Of course, I said that I would do it, I basically have to help anyone I can when I'm at work."

"Of course," Riley agreed.

She understood completely. When she was in LA she and her siblings worked at a restaurant in the mall in their free time for extra money (which was useful when their ex-father, Robert, wouldn't let them touch a dime of the money they had made from their band) as well as to keep them down to earth. Working as a waitress wasn't fun and she, basically, had to allow all of the customers to do whatever they wanted as long as they were served. But, of course, there was a limit that they could take before they could actually say something to the customer.

"So she asked me if I would look after her dog," Kendall continued. "Which is weird, since the oddest questions I typically get are what, specifically, is in certain foods." He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, as per policy, I had to ask if the dog was in the shop, because we only allow service dogs in there. She said the dog wasn't in the store so I had to say that I couldn't help her. This went back and forth for a while, and then she ended up slapping me in the face before leaving the store." He grinned. "My coworker asked how I didn't slap her back and I just said that I was used to it because I had a friend that was an actress."

Riley cracked a smile. "Well, I figured by now Camille would have given up that habit."

"Hmm, maybe not," Kendall said with a mysterious smile. "From what Jo told me, Camille doesn't just slap people for the fun of it. She does it to show her, uh, possession of people. Remember when Jo first came to the PalmWoods? It makes sense if you think about it."

_Wow, how'd I miss that one? You're losing your touch, Ri. _Riley thought about it for a second, before giving a quick, evil grin. "Hey, that means that Logan was your competition, too. Good thing you didn't like Steph or you'd be three for three."

Kendall didn't find amusement in that statement. "It's not my fault that I have a magnetic personality."

"No," Riley agreed. "But it's your fault that you have a sexy smile to go with it." She bobbed her head back and forth. "Actually, you could blame you parents for that one. Hey, maybe his smile drew her in too."

"Ugh, please, I'd rather not think about that." Kendall had a look of disgust on his face.

"You do realize that you wouldn't be here if it weren't for them," Riley said casually. "I mean, I got over that thought after it occurred to me that my mum and dad had six kids, so you know that they _really_ had a happy marriage."

"And on that note, I'm getting out of here," Kendall said. The conversation was quickly turning to something that could move into two different conversations that would move into one topic he wasn't sure he was ready to have with her yet. It wasn't right time, not the right moment. _She did that on purpose. _He rolled off of the bed and got to his feet. He rubbed his arms. "Are you going to stay up any longer?" He shrugged. "I'm only asking if you want to go running tomorrow."

"Whether or not I go to sleep soon wouldn't make a difference about going running tomorrow," Riley said. "It's like I said before, I need something to do so why not?" She shrugged, pushing her black rimmed glasses up her nose. She looked up when she noticed Kendall looking at her. "What? What are ya staring at me for?"

"How come you don't wear your glasses more?" Kendall continued to look at her.

"I prefer my contacts," Riley said simply. "Plus, I'm nearsighted." She looked at him suspiciously. "Why?"

"Nothing. They just look good on you; you should wear them more often." He held out his fist and Riley sighed, rolling her eyes, which she did a lot, and moved hers out as well.

When she pressed her fist against his, the two of them twist their wrists so they were giving each other a thumbs up. It was something that Kendall had come up for the two of them to do as a 'secret handshake' shortly after he got her to finally admit that they were friends. Kendall then held open his arms. When she didn't move, he stuck out his lower lip and started to whimper.

After a moment of hesitation and something odd flashing through her eyes, Riley got off of the bed and stepped into his arms, threading his with hers, and bringing her hands up to rest it on his shoulders. He could feel her shaking, which was a usual reaction that she and her siblings had after their years of abuse. Kendall wrapped his arms around her back. He couldn't help but notice how her body was so warm. The warmth radiating off her, engulfed him completely in the perfect temperature. He could feel her press her face into his neck and chest.

Finally, he started to move his arms back, signaling Riley to take a step back as well. Kendall flashed her a smile before going towards the bedroom door.

"Good night," Kendal said, leaving the room.

"Night."


	5. Flare

**.:Chapter 05 – Flare:.**

* * *

Mrs. Knight smoothed down her shirt before she turned and sat down on her bed, pulling on her shoes. She looked up as there was a tentative knock on the door and called the person to come in. She smiled when Kendall slowly moved his way into the room, balancing filled with food and orange juice in his hands. She couldn't help but think of the times where he, and when she was old enough, Katie, would try to surprise her on Mother's Day or on a holiday by giving her breakfast in bed. The excited smiles on their faces and the light giggles that would reach her ears when they saw the surprised look on her face would always fill her with a warm feeling for the rest of the day. He hadn't made her breakfast in a long time, but she still felt that warmth through her body.

"Well, I guess the breakfast in bed thing is a bust," Kendall said when he noticed that she was getting dressed. "I was hoping that you'd still be a sleep." He gave what a mixture between a pout and a frown, walking over to her bedside table and putting down the tray. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going in to the diner," Mrs. Knight replied. She finished putting on her shoes and stood up, crossing the room to look at herself in the mirror, turning this way and that as she made sure that everything was tucked into place and there were no creases in her blouse or slacks. She looked at her son through the mirror as she picked up a bottle of perfume off of her dresser and sprayed it on her wrists, rubbing it together. "I'm going to see if I can get my job back."

Kendall looked confused. They were on vacation, why would she want to go back to work? "But…you don't have to work there anymore," he reminded her. "You're our Momager; you don't have to worry about having money anymore."

Mrs. Knight turned to her son with a slight look of contempt. She didn't like what he had implied, even though she knew that he didn't mean anything by it. "It's not that I'm not proud of you, sweetie," she said quickly, hoping it would take away the bite that she was feeling. "But I don't want to have to live off of yours or Gustavo's money for the rest of my life." She pushed the loose strands of hair that fell out of her ponytail behind her ears. "I can work just as hard as anyone else, and I don't want to have to sit back and have things taken care of me for the rest of my life."

Kendall nodded as he sat down on her bed. He brought his knees up and wrapped his arms around his legs. He could understand where she was coming from; since she had separated from her husband, she had been taking care of her whole family by herself. Then when Kendall started Big Time Rush, he was suddenly the one that was making all of the money and the one that was making the family financially stable. He was never sure how she had felt about that.

"So I'm going to go back and work part time at the diner, get my waitressing job back, so I can do something as well as have time to relax." Mrs. Knight crossed her room to grab her purse. "Speaking of, what are you doing today?"

"I'm going on a run with Riles in a few minutes," Kendall replied. "I wanted to bring up breakfast first, though. But after that, Katie and I have a surprise for her, so she won't complain about having nothing to do here."

"Oh." Mrs. Knight immediately caught on. "You're going to take her to-"

"Yep." Kendall smiled.

Mrs. Knight's eyes narrowed in a way that only a mother's could. She knew that her son was up to something, she just couldn't put her finger on it. Kendall continued to sit there, a smile frozen on his face, tapping his fingertips together. Then it hit her. "How are you going to get up there if you don't have your license? It's far enough away that you can't just walk there."

"Well, I was thinking that we could take the motor-"

"No!" Mrs. Knight said sharply and Kendall dropped the smile from his face, rolling his eyes. "You can't fit three people, _safely_, on a motorcycle." She thought for a moment. "You can take the car and I'll just walk to work, it's not that far away, it's not a big deal."

"But we want it to be a surprise and if we have her drive, she'll see the sign before we get there!" Kendall held up a finger. "And we need to find a way to…" he trailed off, slapping his hand back down onto his arm. "I guess we can take a bus, but I'm not sure she'll want to sit on a bus for two hours, blindfolded."

"Kendall, I'm going to tell you one thing that you can do to make sure that you get your way when it comes to women," Mrs. Knight said with a smile. Kendall looked interested. "And that's to give a compliment, and then make a compromise."

Kendall smiled back, forming a shape of a gun with his fingers and pointing at his mother.

"I'm going to be late if I don't get going." Mrs. Knight turned and grabbed her purse off of her dresser. She turned back to her son and ran a hand through his hair, down the side of his face, and down to his chin before leaning forward and kissing his head. "I'll see you later, sweetie, have a good day. I'll leave the car in case you want to use it."

She walked out of her room, then out of the house, tucking her arm as she walked into town to the diner that she had spent years working at, trying to make ends meet for her kids. She spent so much time pushing aside the things that she wanted so her kids could get what they asked for. It was difficult for her to be able to do that, since her ex-husband didn't consistently pay for child support. It was even more difficult to have Kendall go to work as soon as he was able to, because he wanted to help her. Without her even having to say anything, he realized her struggles and made his own decision to help her out. She was a bit angry with him at first, though she doesn't think that he knows; she didn't want to have anyone help her, she was too proud to even ask her best friends (James's, Logan's, and Carlos's mothers) for help.

It was partially why she was annoyed when she first got to LA and was looking for a job. Kendall, once again, was making all of the money that they were living off of, and she was the one that was having difficulty securing something. The feeling went away when she became Big Time Rush's momager and was bringing something to the table. Part of her was ashamed that she had felt that way, but another part of her was justified since she was the caregiver over not only her son and daughter, but his three best friends while they were out in Los Angeles.

Mrs. Knight smiled at the familiar dinging of the bell over her head as she pumped the handle to the diner and stepped inside. Everything was so familiar and that was the way that she liked it. She went over to the cashier and caught her attention.

Her former co-worker, Jessie Kramer, looked up and let out a sound of surprise when she recognized Mrs. Knight. "Oh my gosh! What are you doing here? It's good to have you back!"

"I'm on vacation, sort of," Mrs. Knight replied. "But I've gotten too used to working, so I was hoping that you had an extra spot open that I could take?"

"Oh it's no problem, Kacy; I'm sure we can find something," Jessie said, her smile as bright as ever. Her eyes dipped and she looked Mrs. Knight up and down. "And…get you back to being a true Minnesotan in no time."

_What's that supposed to mean? _She knew that she had been in Los Angeles for a while, but surely they hadn't been away that long. Mrs. Knight followed Jessie to the kitchen.

* * *

Kendall let out a sigh as he stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He ran a towel over his face and neck, wiping away sweat. His legs ached from the five mile run that he had just gotten back from. He knew that working for Big Time Rush was hard, but had forgotten that trying to get in shape for hockey was even harder. _Now I actually miss the workouts Patrick would give us._ Kendall rubbed the towel across his bare chest as he went over to the tub. He grabbed onto the shower curtain and slid it sideways against the far wall and turned the faucet. Water gushed out of the showerhead, and soon the heat and steam filled the air.

Kendall tossed the towel to the floor and shed himself of his clothes and stepped over the tub's high wall into a shower. He closed his eyes and let the water rush over his head; letting all of his cares, thoughts, and fears about the try-outs wash away, if only for the moment. They were getting closer and closer and he knew that as the day approached, his nerves had a good chance of getting the best of him.

Kendall grabbed his bottle of Old Spice body wash and squirted some into his hand and began to scrub at his body and face, scratching at the pimples and imperfections, the freckles and moles. They came away beneath my fingernails, a mess of oil, dirt, and skin.

He then grabbed his shampoo bottle and worked the fizzy, bubbly shampoo through his hair. It fizzed pleasantly in his ears as he rinsed it out. It swirled down the drain as he pulled it through his hair; he hummed a Big Time Rush song to himself. All of the stress, discomfort, doubts, anxiety and stress had not completely left him, but he at least felt better.

Kendall left the bathroom and went to his room to get dressed. He pulled on a pair of swim trunks and a t-shirt before slipping his feet into a pair of flip-flops and walking down the hallway to the guest room. He looked into the room and saw Riley walked from the dresser to sit on the bed where her laptop sat open and her acoustic guitar sitting next to it.

He watched her move, the way her body swayed with her steps, and how the towel draped on her head dusted her shoulders as she stood in a sports bra and jeans. What he wouldn't give to be able to call her his girlfriend. Kendall reached out and knocked on the door.

"Hey," she greeted him, sitting down on the side of the bed. She pushed the towel up enough so that she could see him. "What's up?"

"Do you have any plans for today?" Kendall asked his hands behind his back. He had something in his hands that he had grabbed from his room and messed with it, not sure how she was going to react to it. _But know her; she's probably going to find a way to make fun of it. _Riley shook her head, her eyes on her laptop. "Good, then after you take your shower, you need to come with me and Katie."

"To what?"

"It's a surprise." Kendall moved his hands out from behind his back to produce a strip of cloth. "But either way you don't have a choice in the matter." He swung it around his finger before dropping his gaze so that he could focus on tying a knot in the material.

If he kept looking at her, he knew that he was going to do or say something stupid. She had that affect on him sometimes, where he would freak out if she was talking to some other guy, or if he tried to figure out what she was doing if she said that she couldn't hang out. He had that problem with Jo and had the same problem with Lucy, Katie said that he was just completely nuts, but Kendall ignored her. If he was completely honest with himself, he did that with all of his friends if they turned him down to hangout. He got somewhat obsessive with trying to figure out what was going on.

She looked at him, just a bit longer than she needed to-at least, he hoped that's what he saw. "A blindfold huh?" Riley's eyes moved back down to her laptop. "That's kinky." She rested her hand on her neck, giving him an up-close look at the tail of the dragon tattoos that went along her arm. "I didn't think you were into that sort of thing."

"I'm not," Kendall said, continuing to tie a knot into the back of the blindfold. "I'm a romantic."

"So it's a _romantic_ blindfold?" Riley reached out and closed her laptop with a push of her hand against the lid. The clicking sound accompanied the otherwise silence of the room.

"Not that it would matter." Kendall's mouth twitched at the corner. "It doesn't work on you."

"You just don't try hard enough."

Kendall lifted his head and locked eyes with her. He took a breath, standing up straight. "Who says I try at all?"

Riley gave him a 'duh' look. "Is the heart on your sleeve really no indication to your personality at all?" She got up from the bed and draped the towel over her shoulders. "I should be ready in a half hour." Kendall threw out an arm and stopped her when she moved to go by him. "Yes?"

Kendall peered at her. She looked back at him, curiously. "You seem to be in a good mood today," he pointed out.

Riley shrugged. "Not so much a good mood, but a mood," she said mysteriously. "Besides…" she smirked at him, hitting him in the chest with her towel. Her eyes flashed. "I'm on vacation with my best friend, how could it _not _be a good one?" Kendall straightened up and allowed her to slip by him, a small smile on his face.

He stood there without moving. The scent of her—strawberries—lingered in the air even after she had left the room.

* * *

Katie let out a loud sigh as she tilted her head back and looked at the ceiling before looking at her watch. "Where's Riley?" She asked, reaching out with her foot to poke Kendall on the arm. He barely turned his gaze away from the TV, where Sports Center was recapping on some sort of game that she really didn't care about.

"In the shower," Kendall said under his breath, eyes still trained on the TV.

Katie slowly smiled mischievously. "Did you sneak a peek?" She asked.

"No." Kendall grabbed the remote and turned up the volume. She wasn't sure if he was trying to drown her out, or just avoid the question all together. She had been around the guys long enough to know what conversations to eavesdrop on or not and to her fascination (but mostly disgust) she had found that they had very strange conversations as they grew up. Most of which had to do with girls and nearly mentally scarred her, but she was also able to learn a lot of good blackmail information that she still had stored in case she needed to use it.

"Kendall." Katie tilted her head back down and stared hard at her brother.

"No."

"Kendall."

_"No."_

"Kendall!"

"Ok," Kendall finally relented. "I thought about it. But then I figured that my life is much more valuable."

"You're disgusting." Katie's upper lip curled and her nose wrinkled.

"I'm a guy," Kendall said.

"Same thing." Katie drummed her finger on the arm of the couch. "I still don't see why you need me to go," she grumbled to Kendall, who was sitting on the other end of the couch, Yuma sleeping quietly in his lap. "You know I hate the lake, or any place that has sand. Why do you think I spent so much time trying to get Russell Brand to sign to my management when we were at Griffin's beach house?" She smirked at him. "You know, when I wasn't too busy watching mom chase you all around so you could put some sunscreen on."

"Because you're ambitious," Kendall replied. He reached out and tapped her on the nose. "And that's what I like about you."

"Mhm." Katie leaned over and grabbed onto the bottle of sunscreen that their mother had left them and handed it over to Kendall. He rolled his eyes before grabbing it and dutifully squirting some into his hand so he could rub it into his skin. "But you know that's not what I meant. Kendall, you were open with wanting to go out with Jo, so much that you stalked her all around the PalmWoods Pool-"

"Watched from afar," Kendall corrected her quickly. He then looked at the ceiling before looking back down at her. "Besides, it wasn't _my_ fault that Jo lied in the first place."

"And then with Lucy, you didn't seem to like her until James did and you saw how badly her parents were putting her down," Katie continued. "And even then, you had to admit that it was because you were frustrated with how Riley kept saying you were her friend and were too afraid to tell her how you felt-"

"Katie-"

"But now you have the perfect chance for you and Riley to be alone and get together," Katie finished. She looked hard at her brother. "Lizzie says that the beach, with the sunset, and the sand, and the surf is the best combination for romance." Her best friend, Lizzie Zevon, was basically the only girl her age that she hung out with. While she could be girl, she could easily be as big a tomboy as Katie. The two were opposite of each other, Lizzie was girly, Katie was a tomboy, Lizzie was outgoing, Katie was shyer, but they had a lot in common such as movies, TV shows, music, celebrity crushes, and making fun (or taking advantage of) their older brothers. Katie's smirk morphed into a sweet smile as she placed a hand on her chest. "You have the perfect set up for the 'best-friends-turning-into-something-more' romance. And I'm a teenage girl, I like my romance." She brought her hands together in the shape of a heart. "I want you two to be _happy_."

"You sound like a commercial," Kendall cracked. "And thanks for your vote of confidence but I can handle it. Besides…" he shrugged. "I turned down Jo and Lucy for her, I think she knows how I feel about her, and it doesn't even matter if two people like each other, it has to be good timing for things to happen." He looked at his watch before turning back to his sister. "And that's a good tip for you for the future,"

"Yeah, yeah." Katie waved off her brother. "But still, it's the _lake_. I don't like the lake." She jumped when she heard Riley coming down the stairs behind her. When she saw Kendall's glare, she knew that the surprise that they had planned, of taking Riley to Lake Eerie to go surfing (they had checked to be sure that it was possible), had just been ruined. "Oops."

"The lake? Really?" Riley's eyes lit up; she looked the happiest that any of them had ever seen her. She even clasped her hands together and bounced lightly on her toes. "Finally, some water! Something to do around here." She paused and held up her palms. "No offense," she said quickly. She looked at Kendall, confused. "Wait, so the blindfold was so I wouldn't find out about the lake?"

"Yeah, we were going to take the bus up there," Kendall replied.

_Blindfold? _Katie shook her head. If she didn't find a way to get the two of them together before their vacation ended, she was going to officially declare that Kendall wasn't her brother. And that guys clearly had no idea what they were doing in relationships.

Riley's confused look deepened. "Why not drive?"

"Can't," Kendall said. "I don't have my license yet."

"So?" Riley raised an eyebrow. "Pat and No don't have their licenses and they take Rhu's and my car all the time." She slapped her hands against her thighs. "Hell, even Syd knows how to drive. You gotta live a little, Hockey-Head. Or in your case live it '_Big Time'_."

"Is everything a joke to you?" Kendall asked.

"Funny things are," Riley swiftly returned.

"Ha ha." Kendall tilted his head towards Katie. "She says that she doesn't want to go to the lake."

Riley turned to the younger girl, studying her closely. Much like she had done the first time that the two had really gotten to know each other, back when she was sixteen and Katie was thirteen. Like she could see right through her. It freaked Katie out then and it still made her uncomfortable now. Plus, it would ruin everything if she knew what she had up her sleeve. "Is it that you don't know how to surf?" Riley crossed her arms over her chest, blinking. "'Cause it's not that difficult to learn. I taught Patrick how to surf, I taught Lizzie and Dak how to surf-"

"Oh!" Katie's eyebrows rose. "So I can blame _you _for Lizzie's bikini obsession."

Riley ignored her. "-Rhu, Pat, No, and I taught Syd how to surf and we all helped the guys learn how to surf. So I can teach you, too."

_That was definitely an interesting day. _Katie tried hard not to laugh out loud at the memory.

Shortly after the Jacksons had signed the forms, changing their last name from Jackson to Jackson-McGuire, they had gone to the beach to teach Big Time Rush how to surf. Whether it was from having attention from Riley and Rhuben, or the fact that they were in bikinis at the time, the guys had done all they could to try and prove who could learn the fastest. Katie had watched from the beach, her idea that all guys did stupid things when girls were around being reinforced. "I know. I was there when you were trying to teach the guys." Katie now crossed her legs. "And I didn't want to learn then, and I don't want to learn now. I hate the beach as it is, so you're lucky that I even considered going out there."

"So why did you?" Riley raised an eyebrow.

"For you," Katie replied simply. She suddenly felt shy, twisting her fingers together. She really did see Riley as a bit of a big sister to her, but didn't really like to say it out loud, because it made her feel…weird. She admired the older girl and felt embarrassed sometimes to be very open about it. (Though it was nice to have someone that made fun of Kendall as much as she did). But she was glad to know that she had a good friendship with the older girl. "To make you feel at home."

"I feel at home when I'm either in Aus or on stage," Riley said shortly. "Though lately, the latter hasn't been so appealing. But thanks for the thought." She reached out and gave Katie a hug. Turing, she scratched the back of her neck and noticed that Kendall was giving her his 'trust me' look. "Don't give me that look, Kendork," she warned him. "That's the same look that you gave us when you guys nearly ruined your only chance to be on _AM LA_ because you couldn't handle the fact that you were bumped."

"And that all worked out fine, didn't it?" Kendall defended himself.

"Yeah." Riley placed a hand on her hip. "And Katie got blacklisted by security because she ran them over with a golf kart and tased four guys into pissing themselves," Riley reminded him.

"Totally worth it," Katie said with a proud smile. She leaned over and grabbed onto the phone as it rang. "Hello?" As she listened to the man on the other end of the phone, she sat up straight and started smacking Kendall on the arm, her eyes growing wide. "Yeah, he'd love to! Bye!" She turned and grabbed onto Kendall's arm with both of her hands. "Guess what?"

"You're cutting off the circulation to my arms," Kendall replied.

"No!" Katie shook her head. "That was the manager from the Xcel Energy Center." She watched as Kendall's eyebrows rose in curiosity. "And he heard that in the future you want to play for the Wild as well as that you're trying out for the All-Star team soon and he wants to give you two tickets in the box seats for the Minnesota Wild game today!"

"NO WAY!" Kendall leapt to his feet, the sudden movement causing Yuma to squeal and go tearing out of the room as fast as she could. Kendall grabbed Katie in his arms, rocking her back and forth as he hugged her. "This is almost just as good as getting tickets to see them when they were in the Stanley Cup finals!"

"You were able to see them play in the finals?" Riley watched the spectacle with an amused smile on her face.

"Well, no," Kendall admitted. "But it would be just as cool." His hands were shaking and to Katie it looked like he was about to faint. The only other time she had seen him this excited was when he and the guys had first seen the design of their first album. "Wait…" he turned to Riley. "That means that we can't go to the lake."

Riley blinked once and then looked at Kendall and Katie. Disappointment flashed over her face so fact that the siblings didn't catch it. "Oh, that's ok." She waved her hand. "How many chances do you get to see your favorite team play, yeah?" Her smile faded quickly. "We can go to the lake anytime, I guess."

Katie, who was still in her brother's arms, spoke up. "Think of it this way, this'll be good publicity for Big Time Rush and the DarkElements if you guys go to the game together. _And _it'll be good inspiration for Kendall for the tryouts." _And this is probably the most I've ever lied in my entire life. _Katie motioned for Kendall to put her down. "See, I could be a good manager!"

"I never doubted you," Kendall said. He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the head, placing his hands on her shoulders. "So, what do you say, Riles? Do you want to come to the game with me?"

"Why not?"

_Bingo. _Katie smiled to herself. She walked out of the room, pulling her phone from her pocket. She dialed the number that had called the house and waited for the person on the other line to pick up. "Yes, I wanted to tell you that my brother and a friend are going to be attending the game today, but I was hoping that there was one thing that you could help _me_ with…"

* * *

Riley briefly wondered if Kendall was going to have a heart attack from simply watching a hockey game. But it wasn't just a hockey game, as his clothes showed. He had a Minnesota Wild jersey on, and his face painted in the team's colors, so much so that you could barely see his face turn red from how hard he was yelling. She had never seen him get so worked up over something so simple, not even when he was being freakishly competitive or scarily suspicious about something.

_At least he's having a good time. _Riley was constantly shifting; drumming her fingers, cracking her knuckles, crossing her arms, uncrossing her arms, crossing her legs, uncrossing her legs, anything so that she was still moving. She couldn't help but feel anxious, she was waiting for something to happen or something to jump out at her and let her know that things are going to go the way she expected. It didn't help that she was so used to things going wrong, she was sure that she was cursed to that effect. She couldn't even enjoy a simple hockey game because of the _bullshit_ that had happened when she was back in LA.

"Oh come on! What kind of call was that?!" Riley jumped, coming out of her reverie when Kendall slapped his hands to his sides in frustration before pressing them on the glass in front of him and leaning against it. "You don't know what you're doing ref, he was in the clear!" He slammed a fist on the glass before collapsing back into his chair.

Riley, who had her head angled up by her fingers, looked at him out of the corner of her eye. She then dropped her hand to her lap and gave a sweet smile. "You seem upset, Hockey-Head."

Kendall stuck his tongue out at her.

To those that did nothing but watch sports (or even had the decency to go to at least one game) the kiss cam could be a great source or entertainment or torture device, its origins lost to the depths of time. A camera man (who some could consider cruel and heartless) find couples, or else two poor people who happen to be sitting next to each other, and zoom up on them, superimposing a heart around them. The problem is they don't leave the people alone until the two kiss each other. The cameramen tend to place pity on the older couples, so if they say they aren't a couple, the cameramen will back off. Unfortunately, the young aren't as lucky. Unless your significant other is next to you, they won't leave you alone.

"Oh, I wonder what sucker get on it today," Riley said, nudging Kendall on the arm and pointing to the giant screen.

Kendall scoffed as he watched the screen. The jumbotron in the middle of the boards started to flash. An elderly couple got on camera. The husband kissed his wife gently while she blushed and turned away. Kendall and Riley laughed before watching the screen. The other couples that were shone (all older) all laughed, either out of embarrassment or joy, depending on the person, and then kissed, usually just a peck. Everyone light heartedly chuckled as a few couples came up that weren't paying attention, and had to have it pointed out to them by the people around them.

The camera swirled a bit before landing on them. The entire crowd cheered. Riley slightly slouched in her seat, her hand moving up to scratch her forehead, to hide the look on her face. It was one of indecisiveness and worry. And then a feeling of horror washed over her when she realized that she was stuck. She and her family had gone to enough sporting events (and frequented sports sites online) to know that if the kiss cam landed on you, you had to pucker up. People always tried to get out of it. You're not dating the person next to you? You are now. You're strangers? Not anymore. You _had _to do it. No cared who you were sitting next o: if the Kiss Cam comes around, you're puckering up for him, her or it. The love of your best friend's life. Your best friend's elderly grandmother. A box of nachos.

Hence, the feeling of being stuck.

Riley knew that there was going to be problems whether or not she did or didn't kiss him; only because the media and fans could be so fickle. She had been in a situation like that so many times she could see it coming from a mile away. It was the same feeling that she hated to get literally and figuratively, to be backed up in a corner. _Funny, that's how I felt before we were arrested. But at least I didn't do anything as bad this time._

Kendall's eyes bugged out before he looked at Riley. Riley, on the other hand, leaned forward and gave Kendall a kiss on the cheek, using her right hand to hide it from the audience, so they saw what they wanted to see. The crowd cheered as the camera cut out and the game continued. Kendall had quickly gotten sucked back into the game, his focus on the players that shot back and forth across the ice below him. Soon, Riley couldn't help but get swept up in the excitement as well, pushing her anxiety to the back of her mind, but it was still there. The Minnesota Wild was ahead by one point and they had the puck and were on a breakaway.

The puck was shot back and forth across the ice, the deafening boom of the players hitting the boards echoed around the box, the screams from the audience muffled, but still audible. Cody Almond nabbed the puck when he skated in a tight circle, ducking under an opposing player's wrist, and had a breakaway towards the goal. He brought back his stick and slapped it down, causing the puck to shoot into the goal.

The stands erupted with cheers, but only from one side of the stadium. The other side was quiet, a quiet that made the cheers seem ten times louder. The Minnesota Wild had won the game. Their fans, decked out in green, red, white, grey, tan, and gold, had gone mad. The opposing team, the Chicago Blackhawks, was wearing their red, black, and white with a kind of hurt, pride-less pride. It took a while to the stadium to clear out; the aisles were clogged with cheering and whooping fans that were tired and wanted nothing but to get home.

Riley yawned as she and Kendall started to walk back to Mrs. Knight's car. The lack of sleep was starting to catch up to her, nightmares or not, she knew that she was going to have to deal with it eventually or something else was going to happen. Kendall noticed her yawn and moved in front of her, bending down and holding his arms out. Riley climbed onto Kendall's back, making it up in one jump. "Hold on, Riles. It'll be a long trip."As Kendall carried her to the car, comfortable silence surrounded them until Riley chose to break it.

"So that game must have gotten you really excited for your try-outs, Hockey-Head," Riley commented, her arms around his neck, leaning over his shoulder so that she could speak into his ear. "Nothing's better than seeing your team win, yeah?"

"Yeah…" Kendall trailed off. He slowly stopped walking and bent down, gently sliding Riley down his back until she was on her feet. He then turned around to face her and she looked back at him innocently. "We need to talk," Kendall said gently.

"About what?" Riley looked back at him, her face stoic. _Like I didn't see this coming._

"About us," Kendall said. He took a breath. "Is there an us? Cause I seem to be the only one that's trying." He gestured back and forth from himself to her. "I know that something's there and I know that you feel it too."

Riley's upper lip twitched as she had the feeling of wanting to sneer at him. But it wouldn't be out of disgust, it would be out of frustration and anxiety; not that she didn't know it was going to come at some point. Ever since he had told her that he decided not to date Jo or Lucy just so he could still have her as a friend, things weren't exactly the same between them. Sure, they were still best friends and acted like it and she loved that, but she also couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of pressure coming from him, knowing that he was waiting for her to say something about her feelings. It was obvious to everyone; they were both too afraid of ruining their friendship to try something that could be really good for both of them.

_That and because he likes the idea of being with a rocker…with a bad girl, but doesn't realize the ramifications of finally dating one. _Riley brushed her hair out of her face, moving her gaze to her feet. "Um…" she twisted her fingers together. "Why do you like me?"

Kendall blinked before taking a moment to think. "There are a lot of reasons," he finally said. "But besides the obvious attraction and what we have in common…I actually really like the fact that you make fun of me and give me a hard time." Riley peered at him through narrowed eyes. "I know that you think I'm a dork and I couldn't be more okay with that. I like how much you make me laugh and the smug look on your face when you know a joke has hit its mark. I like the shape your mouth makes when you smile. I like your fighting spirit, how you never back down from a challenge, and that you never cease to amaze me."

Riley tilted her head to the side as she continued to look at him.

"There are so many others, but these are the ones that usually come to mind first when I ask myself what I like about you or when someone asks me," Kendall explained.

Riley opened her mouth to say something, but Kendall cut her off.

"After I turned down Lucy and Jo, you said that I needed time to myself before I jumped into another relationship. We both know that I want to be in a relationship with you, but there's still something that's holding you back. Whether it's that relationships aren't your thing because of the ones you were in before or if it's something more personal…" He looked away for a moment, more confident when he turned back to her. "I don't want to start a relationship until we're both ready for it and until you're ready to be open to me." He lowered his voice. "I like you. You _know_ I like you. I know you trust me, but you're still not open to me yet."

_Great. _Riley nodded. "Thanks," she said quietly. _And now you just made everything worse._


	6. Aflame

**.:Chapter 06 - Aflame:.**

* * *

"Kendall, we're going to be late if you don't hurry up!"

Mrs. Knight let out an exasperated sigh as she walked through the kitchen, cleaning up as best as she could. There was still a lot of food left over, something that she was not used to after living with four teenage boys for a while. But she didn't expect a lot to be eaten anyway, Kendall was so nervous for the tryouts that day that he looked like he was going to throw up and only pushed his food around. His eyes would continuously shift to the clock on the microwave, waiting for the time to leave. But he had been so anxious that he now ran the risk of running late.

"I know, mom!" Kendall called back from the living room. She could her a rustling sound and could tell that he was ripping apart his bag, unpacking and repacking things when he couldn't find it. "Where's my hockey tape?"

"Right here, Big Brother," Katie said.

"Thanks, Baby Sister."

"No problem."

Mrs. Knight finished cleaning up the kitchen and dusted off her hands before grabbing her purse off of the counter. She walked into the living room to see Kendall sitting on the couch, meticulously wrapping his stick with hockey tape and Katie sitting on the ground by his bag, looking through it, making sure that he had everything. She turned when she heard footsteps coming up from the basement; her eyebrows rose when she saw that she had a laundry basket in her hands, filled with clean and folded clothes. Riley noticed Mrs. Knight's look and slowed her walk.

"Sorry…I just thought that you needed these done," she said quietly, looking at her feet.

"I did, Riley thanks," Mrs. Knight said with a warm smile. "Don't worry about it." Riley gave a half smile back before walking into the living room and putting the basket down, sitting on the other side of the bag, briefly glancing at it. _I'm going to have to talk to Ronan about getting her to relax. _She walked into the living room as well, running a shaking hand through her hair. _Wow, I didn't realize how nervous I was for him. _"Do you have your skates?"

"Yes," Kendall replied.

"Your pads?"

"Yes."

"Mouth guard?"

"Yes."

"Helmet?"

"Yes."

"No, there's one more thing," Katie said. She got to her feet and walked over to the couch, reaching down behind it. She straightened up and turned to Kendall with a new pair of VANS in her hands. "I thought that you could use something for good luck," she said. "Riley told me that if you make a wish on a new pair of shoes before you put them on, and then your wish will come true."

"Thanks Katie." Kendall reached out and grabbed his sister in a hug, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Katie squirmed, trying to get away from him as he continued to hug her tightly. Kendall continued to kiss her cheek, not letting her go, until she squirmed hard enough that she almost dropped her to the floor. "KENDALL!"

"Ok, ok!" Kendall lifted her upright and let her go so he could finish taping up his hockey stick. When he was finished, he looked through his bag for a long moment before zipping it up and standing up. He lightly tugged at his leather bracelet before he put his bag over his shoulder and picking up his hockey stick. "I'm ready to go."

"Ok." Mrs. Knight grabbed her car keys and hitched her purse over her shoulder. She led the way outside and unlocked her small rental car, popping open the trunk. Kendall placed his back and stick in the trunk of the car as Katie hurried around to the front to get shotgun. Mrs. Knight looked up as the garage door opened and Riley wheeled the motorcycle that she rented down the driveway. When she reached the bottom of the hill, she put down the kickstand before swinging her leg over the back of it. "Do you know how to get to the stadium?"

"Yeah, I remember from the Minnesota Wild game," Riley replied, her eyes were narrowed as she pulled on her gloves.

Mrs. Knight gave a half smile. She had heard (and seen) the pictures from the whole kiss cam debacle and was trying to find a time (and figure out if it was a good idea) to bring it up to the two of them. It was something that needed to be addressed, as was any story of Riley and any of the Big Time Rush guys, but this one seemed more harmless than anything, so it probably wasn't worth it. Mrs. Knight glanced over at her son when his best friend had mentioned the game and noticed that he suddenly seemed really busy with his bag. She turned back to Riley as she spoke again.

"But there's something I wanted to check out first, so I'll meet you there." Riley put her helmet over her head and slid down the visor before turning the key in the ignition.

"Don't you have a jacket to wear?" Mrs. Knight shouted over the roar of the motorcycle. She took a step back as Riley put up the kickstand and pulled on the throttle, causing the motorcycle to move forward. She leaned to the right, turning out of the driveway and quickly went out of sight. _I'm going to have to have a talk with that girl. _Mrs. Knight shook her head and reached out a hand, closing the trunk, before rounding the car to get into the front seat. She reached up and clicked the seatbelt across her chest before turning on the car.

As she peeled out of the driveway, Mrs. Knight couldn't help but smile when Katie reached forward and turned on the radio to her favorite station, only to have Kendall demand that she change it to the 90s channel, causing the two to start fighting. It was comforting that they easily fell back into their old routine of bickering and purposefully annoying each other. It seemed that the trip back to Minnesota was working well for them. She wished that it was working well for her, a couple of days at work at the diner and she had so many people come up to talk about Big Time Rush and how she was being a manager. But most importantly, they wondered what LA was like and noticing some small changes that she had made. Saying some words differently, using different slang, talking about the industry there a lot. She didn't even notice until it was pointed out to her and it made her feel funny whenever it was.

Nonetheless the job was going as well as she remembered it and it was even starting to be fun. _Of course, anything is fun if I don't have to have Gustavo yelling at me and demanding that I do stuff for him. But working in the industry is kind of fun, too. _Mrs. Knight phased out Kendall's and Katie's argument, even when Kendall leaned forward from the backseat and tried to change the station, resulting in a slap fight and Katie complaining that she never got her way and Kendall shooting back that he was the oldest so it made sense.

Mrs. Knight pulled into the Xcel center parking lot, where the tryouts were being held and pulled into a parking space that was as close as she could make it. She could see other parents and little siblings walking along with other hockey players. Some of them she didn't recognize as they were probably already on the team, and others she did, as friends that Kendall had played hockey with before as they were growing up and at his high school. Her nerves came back, causing her palms to sweat. She quickly wiped them off and tried to appear as calm as possible as she, Katie, and Kendall got out of the car.

"Hey, Knight!" Bobby called as he walked by the car. He stopped, waving for his parents to keep going. Mrs. Knight smiled and gave him a hug before he turned to Kendall. "So are you ready for it?" He rested his hands on his bag as it hung off of his shoulder. "My dad made me watch old hockey games all night to be sure that I was prepared.

"I hope so," Kendall gave a wicked smirk. "Cause the last time I checked, you were horrible at your lap times." He laughed and backed up, curling his arm in on himself as Bobby reached out and whacked him on the chest. "Seriously, though, this should be fun, there's going to be a lot of people trying out, including the ones that are coming back, so it should be some good competition, I'm up for it."

_As positive as ever, _Mrs. Knight studied her son. _He's probably giving himself a pep-talk, too. _

"Don't I know it," Bobby agreed. "It should be a really good team when it's all put together." He looked up as Riley pulled into the empty parking space on the other side of Mrs. Knight's car. She pulled off her helmet and shook out her hair before getting off of the bike, holding the helmet under her arm. "Hey, it's Riley, right?" He asked as she rounded the car to stand by them.

"The one and only," she replied in her accent. "And you're Bobby." She smirked. "Can't forget a mug like that."

Bobby blinked once, turning to Kendall as Katie laughed, watching the exchange silently. "Is that supposed to be a compliment or…"

"With her, you never know," Kendall said.

"It was a compliment, don't worry," Riley reassured him. "So you must be pumped for the tryouts, many people going for your position? Or is it a lock for you?" She moved her helmet to her front, holding onto it with both hands.

"For what I can tell, there's one other person going for it, but I think I have the advantage of size," Bobby replied modestly.

"Well, good on ya." Riley nodded. "Good luck."

"Thanks."

Mrs. Knight looked over at Kendall and instantly noticed the look of jealousy that was on his face. Though he wouldn't say that he was a jealous person, she had known him long enough to know that that wasn't true. Whenever there was someone that he was giving his attention to, he got mad if someone else took it away from him. Even when he was hanging out with the guys, if he was talking to Carlos and Steph came up and they left to go on a date, Kendall would pretend that things were ok, but he would actually be annoyed of having been interrupted, and then slightly jealous after. As her mother, she was sure that it was because he cared so much about other people, he was so loyal, that he would be protective over anyone that was in his life.

Mrs. Knight looked around the parking lot, and then did a double take when she recognized a tall, blonde girl that was walking their way, waving. She looked at her for a long moment before finally recognizing her as Kayslee Carter, Kendall's ex-girlfriend. _He hasn't really talked about her since we went to LA; I guess their breakup wasn't that bad. _

Kendall must have noticed her too, because he tapped Bobby on the arm and started to walk in the opposite direction, going around the car to get to the front door of the building. "Hey, we should start getting dressed." Bobby nodded.

"Good luck." Riley turned to Kendall and held out her fist and the two did their handshake. She then reached out a hand and placed it on his shoulder, gently shaking him. "You're going to do bonzer, I know it."

Kendall smiled and nodded and the two started to walk to the center. When he was gone, Kayslee stopped by the group and smiled as she tucked some hair behind one of her ears. She looked from Mrs. Knight to Katie, the pleasant smile still on her face. "Katie, Mrs. Knight, it's so good to see you two again! It's been so long. How's everything with you?"

Katie didn't reply. She just crossed her arms over her chest and looked Kayslee up and down. "We're done fine, Kayslee, thanks for asking," Mrs. Knight said. "It's been so long since we've seen you, how are you doing? Classes going well?"

"Its senior year, so it's going just as I expected it," Kayslee replied. Her green eyes shifted for a moment before she smiled again. "You must be so proud of Kendall and Katie; they're doing such a good job with everything that's come their way. I always knew that they were going to make it big with whatever they decided to do."

"Thank you, very much," Mrs. Knight said. She turned her head when she heard Riley mutter something under her breath, sounding like _fuck that_, bringing Kayslee's attention over as well.

"Hey there, welcome to St. Paul, I'm Kayslee-"

"I know exactly who you are," Riley interrupted her. She looked her up and down before sliding her hands into the back pockets of her jeans.

Kayslee noticed the look. She tossed her hair over her shoulder before crossing her arms over her chest. "You think that you can tell everything about a person just by one look?"

"Sure." Riley raised an eyebrow. "When they're _your _type." Her eyes flashed. "Completely. Predictable."

"Predictable?" Kayslee repeated. Riley nodded. "I'm not predictable; I'm as, mysterious and deep as the pacific ocean." Her eyes narrowed when she realized that Riley was saying the exact same thing that she was saying at the same time.

"Yeah, predictable," Riley confirmed.

"Riley!" Mrs. Knight grabbed onto the teenage girl's arm and flashed Kayslee an apologetic smile. "It was nice to see you again, Kayslee." She walked Riley around the blonde girl and let go of her arm. "You really have to stop expecting the worst in people."

"It's not expecting the worst, it's…knowing what's coming," Riley replied. She glanced at Mrs. Knight out of the corner of her eye. "But I guess it's a possibility that I could be wrong, though I doubt it." Mrs. Knight didn't press the issue any further.

She led Katie and Riley into the hockey arena and found a place to sit down, dropping her purse to the floor, in between her feet. They watched as the tryouts went on, ranging from the guys doing as many laps in a allotted time period, doing six inches to see who had the best core strength, passing exercises, blocking exercises, rushing, smashing, even playing a scrimmage game. And the tryouts weren't even halfway over at that point.

Mrs. Knight took the moment that the players were getting a ten minute water break and some time to rest. "You were the one that got the shoes for him, weren't you?" Riley, who had her head bent over a sketch pad, her hand flying over the paper, didn't pause in her work.

"How could you tell?" She asked.

"Because Katie doesn't ever spend any of her money," Mrs. Knight said. She clasped her hands together in front of her. "She just tells me what she wants to get him for Christmas or his birthday and then I go out and buy it for her, slapping her name on it." She laced her fingers together. "And I know that you want her and Kendall to spend as much time together as possible."

"If he spends too much time trying to make sure that I have fun here, then he's going to ignore her, and I don't want her to be ignored here when he's already so busy back in LA," Riley explained. She moved her hand off of her sketch bad and blew bits of eraser off of her sheet of paper.

"Is it bad that he wants to spend time with you?" Mrs. Knight pressed.

"Only when I don't want it to ruin our friendship," Riley said slowly. "I don't want that to happen again. Not after last time." She started to rub her eraser on the sketch pad quickly, almost ripping a hole in the sheet of paper, she was rubbing so hard. Her lips turned up in a slight snarl. "Is it so bad that I'd rather not have him as my boyfriend and just have him as my friend if I know that he's going to be there for the long run that way?"

"No, it's not," Mrs. Knight said.

"So why does everyone have to make such a fucking big deal about it?" Riley demanded. "It was a big deal when I realized he liked me, but I ignored it. It was a big deal when I realized that I liked him. It was a big deal when I stepped back to allow him to go after Lucy. It was a big deal when he turned her _and _Jo down. I get that. But why does everyone always have to pressure me about it, why can't I make my own decision?"

"Because it's at the expense of another person" Mrs. Knight said. She pushed her hair from her face and looked over at Katie, who was preoccupied with the video game that she had brought with her. "I know that you both deeply value your friendship, but you won't know if you don't try." She shrugged. "Besides, you both keep denying it when people ask if there's something going on between you too. And in my experience, the more you have to deny something, the more you have to look at it and see if it's true."

Riley shook her head. "Yeah, well, there's still the fact that I haven't told him why I was sent here…and the other thing. And I don't know if I can."

"You can," Mrs. Knight said confidently. "And you will, when you're ready. I know that you're afraid that he's going to hate you, but he's not."

Riley slowly nodded, going back to her drawing.

She didn't know it, but Mrs. Knight was referring to her relationship with her husband earlier. When the two had started dating, she couldn't admit her feeling for him at first, because her parents weren't his biggest fans. In hindsight it was funny to see that they were right, but she really valued what her parents thought and tried to hold things off at friendship. But she couldn't deny her feelings for that long; it started to drive her crazy. She knew how that felt; she knew how jealous she got when another girl was merely talking to him. She doubted that their relationship would end in a divorce, at least she hoped not.

Mrs. Knight turned her attention back to the tryouts, jumping each time someone crashed into the boards or was knocked over. She could see that Kendall was frustrated with the way that he was playing. Every time he would get yelled at, he would shake his head, looking at his feet. Bobby was doing his best to keep his head in the game, though, slapping him on the shoulder and giving him encouragement each time, but Kendall could easily get a defeated attitude as quickly as having a positive one. And he was playing with guys that had played at that level for a long time.

She was starting to become really worried about whether or not he would make it. She was even holding her breath as the names were called for the members that had gotten on the team. Not even half of the people that were trying out would get it and the numbers were dwindling fast.

"Number twenty-two…Bobby Henson!"

Mrs. Knight smiled and clapped along with the other parents and whomever had come out to support the guys that were trying out. She closed her eyes, holding her hands up to her forehead, giving a quick prayer as she waited to see who the last person called would be.

"And, finally, number thirteen, Kendall Knight!"

She couldn't help but feel that something wasn't right…

* * *

"I knew you could do it," Riley said as she looked at the All-Star jersey that was draped over Kendall's arm. She picked it up and studied it before re-folding it and putting it back over his arm, resting her hands in her lap. "And you freaked out over nothing, mate."

"I don't even know why I was so freaked, to be honest," Kendall said. He drew his knee up, resting his foot on the end of the couch cushion. "I just felt like…I don't know, like things were weird whenever I was practicing. I wasn't sure if I was doing anything right, even if I was."

"That's simple, really," Riley said. She tilted her head to the side. "You missed the guys." Kendall thought about it. "Think about it this way, ever since you started playing hockey, the James, Logan, and Carlos, had always been there to cheer you on and you guys played well together as a team." She shrugged, using the Jacksons famous one-armed shrug. "Now you're by yourself, proving that you can still do it."

"Yeah, maybe," Kendall replied, suddenly looking lost in thought. "But thanks for the support."

"No worries." Riley waved a hand. "Like I said, I knew you could do it."

"So why didn't you put any pressure on me for it?" Kendall finally looked at her. "With Big Time Rush, you'll run our asses into the ground to make sure that we're ready for whatever comes our way. How come you didn't do it here?"

"Because with Big Time Rush, you had to find your passion for it," Riley explained. "But with hockey, you've always had it. And I knew that you weren't going to listen to me if I kept saying that you could do it, though you knew it. It was better to let you figure that out on your own."

"Great," Kendall rolled his eyes. "How come you can't ever come out and actually help me, point blank?"

"'Cause life doesn't work that way, Hockey-Head," Riley said. She gave him a wicked smile. "And I like watching you squirm. He looked over as Riley's phone buzzed with a text and she picked it up, looking it over.

_Why didn't you say that you were going to do an appearance at the Mall of America? We could have put a lot of promotion in it, now I only have a few days to prepare! _Riley's eyebrows lowered as she looked at the name of the person that had sent it to her. Linda, of course. Riley's mouth twisted to the side as she read Ronan's and hers by association, publicist's message. Kendall leaned over to see what she was looking at and she tilted her phone so that he could see.

"I never said that I was going to do an appearance at the Mall of America," she said slowly. She started to breathe through her nose, clenching and unclenching her fists. She already had an idea in mind of what could have happened. She looked up as Katie entered the room. _Speak of the devil. _Katie must have noticed the silence in the room, because she looked up as she passed and slowed her footsteps.

"What?" Her eyes darted back and forth from her brother to Riley.

Riley looked sharply at Kendall. "You, leave." She then pointed at Katie, who looked like she was about to make a mad dash towards the stairs. "You, sit."

"I'm not going anywhere," Kendall said.

"Do you want your hockey stick shoved up your ass?" Riley asked him. Kendall sighed loudly, shaking his head. "Cause I'd _hate_ to ruin all of the pretty tape that you just put on it." When Kendall still didn't budge, she turned her attention back to Katie. "Whatever!" She snapped, standing up. She took a deep breath before addressing Katie. "I'm only going to ask you this once…did you tell…whomever you needed to tell, that I would do an appearance at the mall of America?" She tried to stay calm.

"Yes," Katie said quietly.

"Why?" Riley demanded.

"I thought that it was a good idea," Katie said quickly. "It's a really good opportunity for both of your bands and for you two in general. It could…promote your _Black and White _CD. I just thought that it was too good an opportunity to pass up-"

"What gave you the right to tell someone what I was and wasn't going to do?" Riley started to raise her voice. "Especially when you don't know what you're doing!"

"But I do know," Katie said. "I know what I'm doing. I know that this can be good."

"For who?" Riley gave an incredulous laugh. "For you?" She didn't want to keep going, but she couldn't stop. Her heart was thudding against her ribcage and she was breathing heavily. "Cause, let's face it, you didn't do it for us. You just want to be able to say that you were able to find a way to make quick money, because appearances charge a lot. Especially with the audience that it's going to bring." She sneered at Katie. "Did you get an advanced check for it, too?"

"But-"

Riley cut Katie off again. "And the worst thing is that you didn't even ask me first!"

"Riley," Kendall tried to break in.

"Please, I-"

"DON'T YOU THINK-"

"Riles!" Kendall snapped.

"What?" Riley turned to face him. Kendall pointed behind her and she turned, her face immediately falling when she saw the tears that were in Katie's eyes. That wasn't what she wanted to do. Before Riley could say anything, Katie turned and bolted up the stairs.

"I can't believe you did that," Kendall said in a low voice. It was probably the most angry that Riley had ever seen him.

"I didn't mean to," Riley grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest, as if to protect herself.

"Sometimes…" Kendall tried to stay as calm as possible, though all he wanted to do was yell back at her. He knew that it would make things worse, maybe trigger something else. "I don't think you get how much of a role model you are for her."

"No, I get it," Riley snapped, her eyes flashing. "I just wish I wasn't. Hell, I'm not the best role model for anyone, not even myself. At least, I don't think so." She frowned. "Though my brothers say otherwise." She shook her head. "There's a story behind every person; there's a reason why they're the way they are." She locked eyes with Kendall and he could see something flash over her face before it went blank. "They aren't just like that because they want to. Something in the past created them, and sometimes…it's impossible to fix them."

* * *

Katie sniffed loudly as she rubbed her eyes with her arm. Tears continued to fall down her cheeks, no matter how many times she tried to stop crying. It wasn't even that she was really upset about being yelled, it was that she was scared by being yelled at her. She had never seen Riley that mad at her, at the guys, yeah. That was actually really funny, but now she understood why they got so intimidated by it. Yeah, she could admit that it was partially her fault, she did ignore what her mom said and jumped ahead, saying that she would do the appearance without asking.

But was it so bad that she just wanted to help?

There was a knock on the door and Riley opened it, stepping inside and closing it behind her. Katie crossed her arms over her chest and turned away from her as she entered the room. She didn't even allow her mother or brother to see her cry, so there was no way she was going to let it be obvious now.

"You know that trying to hide that you're crying would be easier if your eyes were red and puffy," Riley commented, walking over to the bed. "That and because you have tissues sitting all over the place," she added, glancing about the room.

"Whatever," Katie muttered.

"So you need to see where I'm coming from on this," Riley continued. "Though I'm not saying that I wasn't in the wrong for yelling at you, because I was and I'm…sorry about that." She twisted her mouth to the side. "How would you feel if you were a famous musician or performer, or whatever I am, and your friend, who you think of as a little sister, went behind your back and said that you were going to do this appearance and you were standing as their manager without telling them about it first?"

Katie wiped her eyes until they were dry, regaining her composure. "Helpful?"

"Try used," Riley said. "Which is something that I've felt a lot over the years…typically from my ex-boyfriends and Robert, and I swore I wouldn't let it happen again." She shrugged. "Of course, me being stupid me, I allowed myself to immediately jump to conclusions."

Katie lowered her head, studying her comforter. She let out a deep breath. "I just wanted to prove to you that I could be a good talent manager."

"I already knew that you were," Riley said. Katie slowly looked at her over her shoulder. Riley nodded. "Who else could get Russell Brand to sign with a girl who has basically no experience with it, but managed to get experience from one _huge_ client?" Katie smiled. "I was proud when I found out about it."

"You were?" Katie finally looked at her.

"Of course." Riley crossed the room and sat down on the end of Katie's bed. "You're ambitious, and I really like that about you, because you'll try so hard to get what you want, done."

Katie shrugged and looked down at her hands again. "That doesn't really matter; all anyone cares about in this business…the only way they'll take you seriously is by the way you look. And I don't look like anything."

"Katie, you look like you. And you're very beautiful." Riley reassured her. "And while, yes, looks are important to people, it's not the only thing that matters. Your heart has to be there too." She let out a heavy sigh and was silent for a few moments before continuing. "You know one of the reasons that we took a break was because we weren't sure if music was fun to us anymore?"

_What? _Katie looked at her in surprise. It seemed like they had nothing but fun when they were working on their music. In the studio, writing lyrics, or doing appearances, she and her siblings always looks like they were having the time of their lives. Though she did know that they were good at hiding what they were really feeling, it had to be really hard to hide having fun.

"I mean, since I was nine I've been pushed and pushed to do this photoshoot, do this appearance, write so many songs in this amount of time so we can have this many to do for a album," Riley explained. "It got tiring pretty quickly, but we couldn't explain. So for the past…" she stopped to think. "Nine years with that, it started to get to be routine rather than something we looked forward to. Ronan noticed it and said that we needed to take a break." She shrugged. "Like I said, it was one of the reasons."

Katie silently nodded. She ducked her head as Riley reached out and pushed some of her hair from her face. "So you wanted to stop completely?"

"No," Riley admitted. "That's my point. We were starting to not have fun, but our hearts are and have always been in it. And that's the point of the industry; it's capitalizing on something that you really enjoy and making it your life. But if you're in it for the money and that's the only reason, then you're sell-out, you won't see success, and you should never be in it." She looked at the ceiling. "But our hearts have always been in it, if we didn't start so young, our band would probably have started now." She bobbed her head. "It would have saved years of grief and frustration from having to work with those boofheads-"Katie smiled, knowing she was referring to Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James. "-but it's been fun all the same."

"Oh." Katie twisted her fingers together.

"And that's really what's kept us going," Riley said. "The fun that we have with you guys, which caused us to find the fun in our music again." She ran her hand through her hair again. "And as you know, I yell at the guys a lot too, which I absolutely hate, but I can't help it sometimes."

"Why?" Katie looked at the older girl. "They can't annoy you that much."

"They don't, trust me," Riley quickly changed the subject. "But the thing is that I hate yelling at people, but I can't help it, and then I feel incredibly guilty. I hate it more than when I physically hurt someone. Cause if I physically hurt someone, they can heal pretty quickly and that's that, but with yelling at people…it hurts longer, and I'd rather hurt someone for a short period of time than for a long time." She cracked her knuckles. "I'm sorry I scared you, I really didn't want to yell, but you didn't see what I was trying to say and you were sounding so selfish, which is something that I can't tolerate in general-"

"It's ok," Katie interrupted her. "I'm sorry for trying to push you into everything, too. I know that things aren't easy for you guys, being pulled off into so many directions all the time." She tucked her hair behind her ear, looking around the room. "I just thought that since Ronan wasn't here, and since mom is working with Kendall, that you'd want someone to help you, too."

"I don't usually ask for help," Riley said slowly. "I'd rather do it on my own."

"I know."

"But be that as it may, you can't get anywhere in the industry without a little help and I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for help from Ronan and everyone in his record company and all of the guitars that I got as gifts." Riley grinned, causing Katie to laugh. "So, I'd be glad if you were my manager while I'm here. I need to talk to Ronan about it, but I'm sure he'd think it's a good idea too. If it goes well, I'm sure that he'll give you a job at his company when you're old enough."

"Thank you!" Katie leaned forward and threw her arms around Riley, giving her a hug. "I promise I won't let you down."

"I don't think you will," Riley replied. She held up a finger, looking at Katie seriously. "Next time, just let me know ahead of time so I don't feel even more like a jerk than I already do."

"Why do you feel like a jerk?" Katie said back, resting her hands in her lap.

Katie wasn't sure if Riley was going to answer her. She was quiet, her eyebrows lowering, as if she was concentrating on something. Finally, she said, "Better question is when do I _not_ feel like a jerk?"

* * *

Kendall stared at the ceiling, listening hard. He didn't hear anything from Katie's room and assumed that she and Riley had made up. He was nothing short of pissed when he saw his sister crying and wanted to defend her, but at the same time he knew that it wasn't his problem and that Riley needed to learn how some of the things that she said when she was angry could really affect others, though he knew that she was aware. Her anger was one of her biggest insecurities and she was devastated each time she managed to hurt someone. That's why he allowed them privacy when she went to apologize, when normally he would hover around Katie to make sure that she was alright. It probably stemmed from when they were younger where Kendall always hovered around her to help her up each time she fell and hurt herself or had a problem that she needed help with.

_Not that she really needs my help with anything anymore._

Kendall jumped when his phone buzzed, letting him know that he had gotten a text. He picked it up and unlocked the screen before looking at it.

**Riles: Get over here. Park.**

Kendall's eyebrows twitched for a moment before he rolled out of his bed and grabbed his shoes, sliding them on. He slid his phone and house keys into his pocket before leaving his room. He glanced over at his mother's room, making sure that the door was closed and the light was off before he quietly went down the stairs and slipped out the front door.

Crickets chirp and his footsteps echoed as he walked down the street towards the park. His eyes traveled down to the all-star jersey that he was wearing. The last time he had it on was when their concert had gotten cancelled and he was only invited to skate with the team, now he was actually a _part _of it. Something that he had wanted for a long time…and admittedly was too scared to even try, even though he had plenty of chances. He was a step closer to making it to his ultimate goal, something that he dreamed of since he was a kid.

He was ripped out of his thoughts when he heard a rhythmic pumping and cracking sound. He entered the park and followed the sound, smiling a little when he reached the small baseball diamond that had been set up for little league. Riley was standing in front of home plate, a baseball bat in her hands, hitting a ball as it shot out towards her from a ball feeder. Kendall walked up to the fence and grabbed onto it, watching her for a moment before he spoke.

"So, uh, I get this text, saying it's urgent…from a Riley Jackson-"Riley loudly cleared her throat, continuing to swing at baseballs. "-sorry, Jackson-McGuire," Kendall apologized. "Anyway, I get a text saying it's urgent, and to come down to the park." He leaned back, extending his arms, as he continued to hold onto the fence. "What's up?"

"It's a very late, congratulations gift," Riley explained.

Kendall smirked. "Not much of a present, I don't see any boxes or gift-wrap and bows around."

"Well, if you knew me, you'd know that I'm terrible when it comes to wrapping gifts, I always get someone else to do it for me," Riley said. She lowered her bat to the ground as the feeder ran out of baseballs. "Though I have gotten a bit better over the years. Would you feel better if I just put a bow on _my_ head?"

"Maybe."

"Ace." Riley turned to face him, placing the tip of the bat on the ground and leaning against it. "You've never hit a baseball before have you?"

"No." Kendall shook his head. "I did play little league for a bit, but I never hit a ball." He bobbed his head back and forth as he leaned against the fence again. "I got hit in the face a lot, but I never hit a ball."

Riley laughed and pointed the bat at him. "That might be why you're good at hockey, your dad probably saw your potential there pretty quickly. And it's probably better than your wimpy, five-year-old style pitching." She waved a hand at him. "Get over here, Hockey-Head." She took a step back and held up her hands, a teasing smile on her face. "Don't worry, I don't bite unless I'm showing possession, and my bark is much worse."

"I've noticed." Kendall skimmed his fingertips against the fence as he walked around to enter the diamond. He walked over to home plate as she walked around, picking up the baseballs that she had hit. She put them in the feeder and then sauntered back over to him, holding out the bat. He took it. "Hm…potentially getting hit in the face and experiencing terrible flashbacks…that's my gift?" He gave her a teasing smile. "You shouldn't have."

"It wasn't cheap," Riley said. She reached out a finger and placed it on his cheek before using the tip of her fingernail, tracing her finger down his jaw to his chin. She pushed lightly so she lifted his chin, causing him to look down at her from the very bottom of his eyes. "So at least pretend you like it." She walked around to his inside, the one that pointed over to the feeder. Her eyes shifted. "It's not a bad piece of ash, yeah?"

Kendall raised an eyebrow as he looked over at her; her eyes sparkled with mischief as she smirked at him.

"I'm talking about the bat," she said evenly.

"Uh-huh." Kendall shifted his grip on the baseball bat, not sure how to hold it. He was so used to holding onto a hockey stick that his hands would basically melt into the wood in the right spot so that he was able to get the best grip on it to make the best plays. But the object felt cold and foreign in his hands.

"So you don't want to strangle the bat," Riley coached him, watching as he shifted his hands. "You want to shake hands with it." She lowered her voice. "Hello, Mr. Bat, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She returned her voice to its normal octave. "Oh, no, no, Mr. Knight, the pleasure's all mine."

Kendall laughed. "God, you can be so weird sometimes."

"I'd rather be weird than myself sometimes," Riley said, lightly kicking at the ground. "Unless being weird is myself…" she shrugged, turning away slightly. "I don't know anymore, nor do I really care to know," she said mysteriously before scratching her forehead. "Ok, what you want to do is turn your hips before your hands," she changed the subject. "When you swing," she clarified, seeing the confused expression on Kendall's face. "And you want to stride forward and turn."

Kendall let the bat drop to the ground, holding onto the smaller end as the top hit the dirt, sending up a small dust cloud. That made absolutely zero sense. "Show me." He smirked to himself as he thought about the song that he and his best friends had made for their second album. _How ironic._

Riley let out an exasperated sigh and walked over to him. She opened her arms and moved to step behind him, but then stopped before ducking under his arm. She stood in front of him and picked the bat up off of the ground, placing her hands on the inside, and then positioning Kendall's hands above and below hers, his arms around her. His breath tickled her face.

"Ok!" she lifted her head and looked out over the grass, which was wet with dew; it sparkled under the park lights. "You turn your hips, and then your hands." She demonstrated by bending her knees slightly and turning her hips out, and then swung the bat, her movements causing Kendall to move with her. She grabbed onto his left hand and placed it onto her hip so he could feel it when she repeated the movement, before replacing her hand on the bat. "Hips, then hands." She tilted her head back to look at him. "What is it?" She quizzed.

Kendall blinked, not sure what she was talking about. For a second, he had a horrifying thought, but then calmed down when he realized that he was in the clear (though maybe not much longer due to her close proximity) and she was just asking him to repeat what she had just said. "Hips, then hands," he parroted.

"Good to know that your blonde hair isn't a stereotype," Riley said. She faced forward again. "Right, ok. So we're going to wait on the pitch, keep our eyes on the ball, and then we're going to make contact. We're not going to think, we're just going to let it fly."

"Got it." Kendall nodded. He started to reposition his hands into the middle of the bat, but Riley quickly moved them away, replacing them on the outside of hers. "What?" He laughed.

"My hands are in the middle," She said stubbornly. She tilted her head back again, this time resting the back of her head against his shoulder. "It's easier for me to swing that way." She lowered her head and removed one hand to pick up a small remote from her pocket. She pressed a button on it and Kendall could hear the feeder roar to life.

A ball shot out and the two swung the bat. With a loud _crack_ the ball shot off the top of the bat, firing sideways, in what would be a foul in a real game. The two moved back into position as the second ball started to go through the machine. They swung again, this time hitting the ball towards the middle of the bat and shot forward.

"What you may find is that you're concentrating on that little ball, the rest of the world just fades away," Riley said as they continued to hit baseballs. "All those nagging little concerns; the future, how you probably couldn't afford that leather jacket in Urban Outfitters, how you nearly threw away a promising career in hockey to work in a band alongside a witty, yet amazing girl-" Kendall smiled. "-getting deep in the heart of the music industry, your obscene rumors of dating or sleeping with every guy you're connected to."

Kendall's hands slacked on the bat.

"Sorry, that problem is mine, not yours," Riley said, faking her mistake. She pressed a finger to her chin. "Though with the way you act around the guys…"

"Shut up, Riles, I'm playing baseball," Kendall said. They swung a few more times, running out of balls, again. Riley walked around, picking them up to feed them into the machine again. She gently sucked her lips into her mouth, letting out a deep breath as she walked back to over to Kendall, gently grabbing the bat from him.

"Are you still mad at me?" She asked him, avoiding his gaze, in case he was.

Kendall looked at her for a while and then shook his head. He reached out and grabbed onto the bat as well. "No," he finally said. "I can never stay mad at you for too long. And I don't know if it's because I'm stupid or what. But I can't be mad at my best friend."

He tightened his grip on the bat; at the same time, he moved his arms closer together, bringing Riley against his chest.

And she let him…

* * *

**A/N: **Ah, I finally have something to say that needs an author's note, haha. Do you think that I showed Riley's relationship with Mrs. Knight, Katie, and Kendall well here? Cause I'm kinda iffy on the one with Mrs. Knight. Please let me know.

I hope you guys liked the chapter and I'll update again on Monday. Also, anyone watch _The X-Files_? ;)

Cheers,

-Riles


	7. Burning

**.:Chapter 07 – Burning:.**

* * *

Kendall was awakened from his slumber from a loud, high-pitched, fear filled scream.

He was startled so badly that he nearly fell out of the bed. His heart thudded against his chest as he threw the covers off of him and flung himself out of his bed. His mind raced with thousands of thoughts…was someone breaking in? Did someone hurt his mother or sister? Was it just a dream? He hurried to his bedroom door and pulled it open, only to see his mother and sister racing by his door.

"Was that you?" he asked, grabbing onto Katie's arm.

Katie didn't get a chance to answer, as there was another heart stopping scream coming from down the hall. Kendall followed his mother and sister to the guest room and stood in the doorway as his mother turned on the light and hurried over to Riley. She was sitting up in her bed, her hands over her ears and her eyes closed, her mouth open as she let out another terrifying scream. Katie put her hands over her ears before burying her face into Kendall's side, wrapping her arms around his waist. Kendall hugged her back watching as Mrs. Knight moved over to Riley and cupped the younger teen's face in her hands.

"Riley, sweetie, wake up," Mrs. Knight said in a low, soothing voice. "It's alright."

Riley's eyes flew open. She sucked in a sharp breath and looked up at Mrs. Knight, before her eyes darted over to the doorway. She looked back at Mrs. Knight and then practically threw herself to the floor, grabbing a pillow as she went, and skidded backwards into the corner of the room. She held up the pillow as if it were to protect herself. "Don't touch me," she practically hissed, looking at the three of them with wide eyes. "_Don't fucking touch me_!"

"I'll just stay right here," Mrs. Knight said calmly, holding up her hands.

Kendall watched, impressed, as his mother handled the situation with ease. Ronan probably told her how to help her and her siblings through something like this, just in case he wasn't around. He was sure that Ronan and his mother had multiple conversations about things like that, especially from the times that any of them had slept over at the apartment. But it was never really a problem before. Kendall placed a hand to his chest and was surprised to see that his heart was still racing. The scream had scared him badly, probably more than anything else that he had ever happened to him. But his fear came more from not knowing what to do rather than from the scream in general.

Tears fell down Riley's cheeks as she hung her head. "Stay away from me! Don't hurt me…" the last part of her statement came out as a pathetic whimper.

"Mom?" Katie called quietly.

Mrs. Knight held out a hand towards her daughter, warning her to stay where she was, but kept her eyes on Riley. She took a step towards her and Riley pushed herself even further into the corner, holding the pillow tightly against her. "It's ok, Riley," she repeated, in the same soothing tone. "Everything's ok."

Riley lifted her head, her hair falling away from her eyes. She looked like she recognized the three of them but didn't want to go anywhere near them. Her hands shook as she held onto the pillow. "Where am I?" She asked in a whisper.

"You're in Minnesota," Mrs. Knight said. "You're in my house. Everything's ok, Robert's not here. He hasn't been around for a long time; he's not going to hurt you." She took a breath, lowering both of her hands and taking the chance to move closer to her again. This time, Riley didn't back away from her; she continued to look up at her, tears still falling down her face. "Riley…will you at least tell me what's wrong? I'll stay over here."

Riley shook her head, burying her face in her arms, and then she started to cry.

Kendall glanced at his mother before looking at his friend again, completely at a loss for what to do. For as long as he had been friends with her, he had never seen her cry. Even if it was a situation where an extremely rude hater would get into her face and start to tell her everything that was wrong with her, she'd just stand there and calmly take, and shrug it off. Though he knew deep down that it really did hurt her, she never cried from something as bad as that, so it had to be something completely terrifying if she started to cry now.

Mrs. Knight kneeled down by Riley and started to stroke her hair, comforting her. Kendall ran a hand through his hair, feeling lost. He thought for a moment before patting Katie's shoulder. "Hey, go back to sleep, Mom and I can take care of it," he said quietly. Katie looked up at him, before looking hesitantly over at Riley. "I'll sing you to sleep if you need it," he added.

Katie gave a half smile. "I haven't needed you to sing me to sleep in a long time," she said. Kendall still picked her up and carried her to her room. Using one hand, he pulled back the covers on Katie's bed before gently laying her down, pulling the covers back over her. "Is she going to be ok?"

"She'll be fine," Kendall said confidently. He kneeled next to his sister's bed and looked at her seriously. "Katie, I want you to know that no matter how old we get, if you ever need help, I'm going to be there to help you whenever you need it." Katie's eyebrows lowered and she looked at her brother in confusion. "I just wanted you to know, Baby Sister."

"I do know that," Katie replied. She sat up, pulling her blankets with her. "Kendall, are you ok?"

_No. _How could he explain it? It was the first time in his life that he didn't know what to do to help someone and he hated it. He was the problem solver; he was the one that was always supposed to be there to help people through their problems, whether it be pep-talks or just being there to be supportive in general. He would have a quick answer to whatever the problem was and it would be solved in only a matter of minutes. But this was different. It was trying to help someone get over something that happened in their past and was something that, as their therapist put it, they had to 'get through' not 'get over'. He remembered the time he had gone to their therapy session, it was really hard to sit there and listen and they talked about really personal things just so they could get through the day. He couldn't imagine how hard and embarrassing it was for her to freak out like that. _It's probably the reason she hasn't been sleeping._

"I'm fine," Kendall finally said.

He didn't want his sister to worry. He leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the forehead before he pushed himself up and left her room, closing the door behind him. He hesitated before walking down to the kitchen. Turning on the light over the sink, he yawned as he glanced at the clock on the microwave. Only two-thirty in the morning, no wonder he was so tired. He even went to sleep earlier than that when he was on tour. Even catching a quick nap backstage helped keep him from staying up all night, he knew that being as healthy as possible was important when being in a band (it was drilled in his head enough times from Noah).

Kendall went over to the cabinet and grabbed a packet of hot chocolate before he grabbed a mug, filling it up with hot water. Mixing in the cocoa powder along with chocolate chips and whipped cream, he carefully picked up the mug and walked it back upstairs. He bumped into his mother on the way out of the guest room. "Is she ok?" he asked anxiously, passing the mug back and forth between his hands.

"Yeah, she's fine," Mrs. Knight replied with a small smile. "It was just a nightmare. Don't worry about it; Ronan told us mothers how to deal with it before we went off on our separate vacations." Kendall slowly nodded. He wondered if the others were having problems with it as well and made a mental note to call them. Mrs. Knight smiled at him before walking around him to go to her room. Kendall raised his hand to knock on the door to the guest room, but stopped when he heard Riley talking to someone.

"So in this nightmare, Robert had chased me around the house, throwing beer bottles at me as he went," Riley was saying. "And each time I would be hit, I wouldn't feel it hit me, but I could tell that it was bad. Then all of a sudden the room changed so it was one room and he had me backed into a corner and started whipping me with a belt."

"Wow, sounds like some dream." Kendall recognized the voice of their therapist, Dr. Taylor Angelo, or as Riley called him, Angel. "Is there anything that you can pick out from this dream that's fresh in your mind?"

Kendall heard Riley give a snort. "Mostly black and red, but that's not a surprise."

"Though the colors are representations of your band and of your favorite colors, they mean completely different things when it comes to dreams," Dr. Angelo said. There was a brief pause. "And it's even more alarming, because you've never really had dreams be so present in your dreams before."

"I know," Riley agreed. "It's weird, because…usually I don't notice any colors at all, I just notice people and emotions and how I feel when I wake up, but it really seemed like….blood was everywhere. Like, the blood went from red to black, the more times he whipped me."

"Interesting that you say that," Dr. Angel said slowly. "Especially considering the recent events that have happened to take you guys apart and what's coming up." He let out a yawn. "And I can understand your hesitation to say anything, because you hate it when others worry about you, but it could be what's causing your nightmares to escalate so quickly."

"I'm just…" Riley let out a heavy breath. "I'm just so used to having my family worrying about me and me worrying about them and that's it. We worked fine that way. That's why Rhu and I are really close…but we don't really let other people see that outside of our house. We made sure, at the beginning of everything that was going on, that we were prepared in case something came about that we were split up from each other, that way we would be strong for our brothers and not alarm them. So we're really close, but we really only show it when we're at home or comfortable around a lot of people. So we just worried about each other in that aspect. Don't get me wrong, I love my friends, I adore the guys, I just don't like them being drawn into everything that happens."

"Friends can help each other," Dr. Angel continued. "A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself - and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That's what real friendship amounts to - letting a person be what he really is."

Riley laughed lightly. "_Now_ who sounds like the fortune cookie?"

"I got it from you."

"You're the therapist!"

"So what's your excuse?"

Riley laughed again.

"You're a great person, Riley. And you're closed off, emotionally, to the people that care a lot about you and want to be there for you. I know that you're scared to lower all of your walls at once, but you don't have to. Try going slowly, just doing it every once in a while and see how things are perceived after that. The better feedback you get, the more that you'll do it and then everyone will see the person that I truly see in you."

"Can we go back to the colors please, Angel?" Riley sounded uncomfortable.

"Fine. Hold on." Through the computer speakers, Kendall could hear some rustling, as if Dr. Angelo was flipping through a book or through a stack of papers. "Aha, ok, let's start with red. Red is the color of danger, violence, blood, shame, rejection, sexual impulses and urges. Perhaps you need to stop and think about your actions."

"It's a bit too late for that, I was arrested, remember?"

"And that brings up my point exactly," Dr. Angelo replied calmly. "You four were arrested. We know that. Your fans back home know that. You're scared of the kind of backlash that you're getting because not everything you do will be taken lightly. The fact that most of your friends are guys isn't taken lightly and you get backlash from that. Your past does the same thing as everyone expects the best of you. But, and I've told you this before, it's not what other people think, it's what you think. And I know you don't think that you're a bad person."

"But I'm a bad role model."

"No, you're not. Not if you're taking the steps that you need to get better and to go back to being happier. That's what you told me, right? That you wanted to go back to the way that you were when you were a kid, before your parents died?"

"Right."

"So you're taking the right steps to get there, it's just going to take some time," Dr. Angelo reiterated. "Now, as for the color, the danger, violence, and shame thing is easily directly related to why you were brought out there. Especially since you all felt enormous guilt after what happened. But they don't understand what's coming up for you guys and how it affects you each time it comes around. You didn't know what you were-"

"Oh, I knew what I was doing, we all did," Riley interrupted. "It's kind of hard to swing your fist and not know what you're doing."

"Be that as it may, you shouldn't stress over it. You're all getting better now." Dr. Angelo cleared his throat again. "Now, for the color black. Black symbolizes the unknown, the unconscious, danger, mystery, darkness, death, mourning, rejection, hate or malice. And what really stands out to me is rejection, which can be attributed to the fact that you guys haven't told your friends why you were sent out there."

"I don't want them to-"

"Hate you. I know. You've said it before. But, correct me if I'm wrong, you've told me numerous times that you and Kendall can tell each other anything. You can talk to James about really serious things, you can help Carlos through his problem by relating them to yours, and Logan is close enough to you that he can be comforting even when you guys are sitting there in silence. If you've told them about the things that you've done in your past, and when you told them why you continued to push them away before Robert was sentenced and they didn't hate you then, why do you think they're going to hate you now?"

"Because I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"Of not being liked. Of not being wanted. Of falling into the same patterns that I did before, even though I surrounded myself with good people. Of making them all disappointed like I did my parents."

There was a lengthy pause.

"I'm sure that your mother and father aren't disappointed of you if you and Rhuben were both able to raise your brothers to be fine young men as well as keep them safe and out of trouble as you all grew up. I'm sure with all of the accomplishments that you made, they're very proud."

"Hm."

"Have you been doing your exercises?"

"Yes, rephrase and redirect," Riley said. "And if that doesn't work, write things down. Though, honestly, that doesn't always work."

"And it won't. It wouldn't be a real thing if it could be fixed in a matter of seconds, some evaluation, and some time at the hospital, and medication. But your progress is great and you shouldn't sell yourself short."

"Alright." Riley sighed. "I'll talk to you later, Angel. Thanks for getting up so early to help me."

"It's no problem, Riley; just call me when you need to talk,"

Kendall waited five minutes before he knocked on the door and entered the guest room. Riley was sitting in the middle of her bed, scribbling in her notebook. She looked up and gave him a small smile as he entered the room. before it dropped completely. _Ok, Kendall, don't let her know that you've heard the whole conversation. _He took a breath. _Though you know that she's super perceptive and probably already knows that you did. Just don't panic._ He drummed his fingers on the now cooling mug. _But it really did prove that I still don't know a lot about her._

"Kendall?"

"What?" Kendall snapped back to reality and turned to Riley. "Sorry, what?"

"I asked, if that's for me?" Riley pointed her pen to the mug. She lifted the bottom of the basketball jersey that served as her pajama shirt and scratched her stomach. "Like…eight times," she added when Kendall still didn't answer.

"Oh." Kendall held it out, before walking over to her. "Yeah, it's for you." He handed it to her. "I thought that it would make you feel better." He wiped his sweaty palms on the sides of his sweatpants as he watched her take it and take a sip, then licked whipped cream off of her lips. "Do you…want to talk about it?"

"No," Riley said simply, shaking her head. "Not if I don't have to."

Kendall's eyes shifted. "Do you want me to leave?" He waited a bit for an answer, practically seeing Riley's thoughts and hesitation run over her face. _She's probably wondering whether or not she wants to talk to me about what Dr. Angelo said._ After a couple of moments of not getting a response, Kendall started to leave the room, but was stopped as Riley grabbed onto his arm with both hands. He turned to look at her and saw that she was tugging him back to the bed.

"No," she said, shaking her head. Kendall turned back to the bed and pulled himself onto it, scooting back until he was at the headboard, and then crossed his legs at the ankle. Riley moved so she was sitting cross legged in front of him. "So how long were you standing behind the door?" She asked.

Kendall thought about denying it, but knew it was a bad idea. He could tell just from the way that her eyes flashed to him that she was angry, and was trying not to let it get the best of her. Either way, he was watching for any hint of reddening of her face, just to be on the safe side. He had been on the wrong side of her yelling one too many times and was very quick to notice if she was starting to lose her temper. "I didn't mean to listen," he apologized. "But…my curiosity got the best of me."

"No worries." Riley leaned forward and placed the mug on the bedside table. "I have a bad habit of eavesdropping anyway." She smirked at him, resting her hands in her lap. "Though I'm better at it. I could hear you breathing like a fish out of water." She gave him a teasing smile.

"Well, not everyone is experienced in the ways of being sneaky," Kendall said, giving an exaggerated bow.

"Thank you." Riley bowed back, laughing a little. She tucked some of her hair behind her ear, looking away from him. _I wish she'd smile like that more. _Kendall stayed in the comfortable silence. "So-"

"So-"Kendall said at the same time. The two smiled at each other. "Dr. Angelo said that you should start by taking down some of your walls. And…I don't really know a lot about you, though you know almost everything about me…" He knew to take things slow, if he wanted to ask about why they were brought out there or what Dr. Angelo was referring to in their conversation; he was going to have to push it out slowly. Unless they were in the middle of an argument, he knew that it was the best way to go, so he didn't have her cut off from him completely.

She sighed wearily. "What d'you want to know, Hockey-Head?" Riley tossed her hair behind her shoulders and leaned forward. She held out her hand and Kendall leaned up, doing the same. He moved his fingers around hers and the two started to thumb wrestle, their hands jerking back and forth as they tried to win.

"Anything," Kendall offered.

"Anything?" Riley looked skeptical. She thought for a long moment and then frowned, concentrating on the bedspread. She bit her lower lip. "Promise you won't laugh?"

"Promise." Kendall used his other hand to cross his heart across his chest.

Riley took a breath. "I'm a sucker for weddings," Riley said after a moment. "I'm a closet wedding lover. I like to watch wedding shows on TV; I've had my wedding planned out since I was seven." She lifted her eyes to meet Kendall's. "Though the groom doesn't matter." She lowered her gaze again, twisting her arm to the side as she tried to pin Kendall's thumb. "I think flower girls and ring bearers are really cute and…" her face softened. "I really like the fact that people will go through something so elaborate to share their love with other people."

Kendall smiled. "Why would I laugh at that?" When Riley took her gaze away from their hands, Kendall flicked his wrist and moved his thumb over hers, pressing down on it firmly. He laughed when she struggled to pull her hand back. "1, 2, 3, I win!" He raised his hands over his head in victory. "And I'm still undefeated!" He noticed her pout, though her eyes flashed mischievously. "And don't even think about tickling me, I'm not ticklish."

"No, you're ticklish," Riley contradicted him. She reached out and tapped him on the knee. "I just have to find out where."

"That sounds like a threat." Kendall cocked an eyebrow, though the smile was still on his face.

"More like a promise, mate," Riley replied mysteriously. Her eyebrows twitched up as she smiled. She brought her knees up to her chest. "Uh, what else can I tell you…" she bobbed her head back and forth. "Uhhh…" she stalled, before squeezing her eyes shut. "I like Hello Kitty."

"Hello Kitty?" Kendall repeated. His lips twitched. "You mean, that Japanese cat thing that little kids love so much?" He tried his hardest not to laugh; he pressed his lips together and even tried breathing through his nose, but still burst out laughing. "Oh my god!"

"It's not funny!" Riley got up on her knees and punched him on the shoulder. Kendall curled up into a ball and held his hands up to defend himself as Riley continued to hit him on the arms and the shoulders. Kendall quickly lifted an arm and wrapped it around her waist, flipping her over. He grabbed onto her hands and pinned them above her head. "Ha! Gotcha!" His breath caught in his throat as his lips gently brushed against hers. In his stunned silence, Riley slid one hand out of Kendall's grasp and shoved hard against his chest. He lost his balance and fell onto the bed before rolling onto the floor.

Riley sat up and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You were saying?"

"Cheap shot," Kendall muttered as he climbed back onto the bed. _Is she really not going to say anything about what just happened? _He didn't expect her to, she was good at acting like things didn't happen to avoid talking about it, either that or quickly change the subject or make a joke of it. He risked a glance at her and when he noticed her smile, he couldn't help but smile back, knowing that things were ok between the two of them, if not better. He stretched out on his back. "So, you were saying that you like Hello Kitty."

"Shut up." Riley flopped down next to him, turning into his side, her knees gently brushing against his side. "I've always liked Hello Kitty as a kid, since my dad went to Japan for his job once and brought me back a little stuffed animal of hers." Kendall glanced at her and noticed that she was blushing.

There was a light knock on the door and Mrs. Knight poked her head into the room before entering fully. Her eyebrows twitched for a moment before she looked over at Riley. "You look like you're doing much better," she said.

"I am," Riley replied. "Thanks, Mama Knight."

"You're welcome," Mrs. Knight replied. "I know that you two are talking, but please stay quiet so you don't wake up Katie. And don't stay up too long." She blew a kiss before she left the room, leaning the door open a couple of inches behind her.

"Huh." Riley moved her lower jaw to the side. "Most parents usually freak if I'm in the same room as their son this late at night."

"But you're forgetting that mom has always been fine with it, remember?" Kendall said. "When you guys would sleep over at the apartment or whatever. Half the time none of us would be asleep, we'd just be talking all night." He smirked. "Until she forced us to go to sleep, _then_ you would have to crash on the couch."

"Right."

"Just wait until tomorrow morning when she's wide awake, then I'm sure she'll have something to say."

The two lifted their hands and lazily high-fived, laughing quietly.

Riley played with her fingers. She then had a serious look on her face. "I need to tell you something, Kendall, and you better not tell Katie before I do." She said in a warning tone. "And I mean it. If you do, I'll be very pissed at you." Kendall looked at her and saw how serious she was, it was usually only when she called him Kendall, as opposed to any of her nicknames, that he knew that she was either mad at him or wanted to talk seriously.

"Ok." Kendall held up his hands. He then stretched before he rested his hands behind his head. "I'm listening," he said, then yawned. His eyes closed and he took in a deep breath.

Her words faded out as he started to drift off to sleep. But before he fell into complete slumber, he could hear the light turn off and then there was breath on his face and the familiar scent of strawberries lingered around him. He felt the covers get pulled up over him before a gentle kiss was pressed to his forehead. Then he felt the covers get pulled back again and felt Riley snuggle against him.

Kendall smiled and went to sleep.

* * *

_God, I'm so tired. _Kendall raised the back of his hand to his mouth as he yawned before plunging his hands back into the soapy water. He picked a plate and started to scrub it with a sponge that was in his other hand. Katie was standing next to him, so he handed her the clean dishes to dry so they could put them up. Katie glanced up at her brother.

"First you talk in your sleep then you yawn like a bear when you're awake," Katie remarked, shaking her head. "Is there no in-between with you?"

"If there is, I haven't found one," Riley commented as she walked into the kitchen. She leaned over the fruit bowl and picked up an apple, rolling it up her arm and then popping it out of the crook of her arm, catching it in her palm. She then spun it on her finger before putting it in her palm and taking a bite. "He's either freakishly sane or a complete nut job." She pointed over to the two siblings. "And I'm _still_ trying to figure out which one I like to make fun of more." Riley gave a wicked grin.

Kendall rolled his eyes. "Are you ever going to give it a rest?"

"Are you ever going to stop being a dork?" Riley took another bite of her apple.

Katie laughed again. "So, did you ever make a decision about Minnesota yet?"

Riley shrugged and backed away from the fruit ball. Kendall followed her with his eyes, watching as she pulled herself up onto the counter and started to flip through a magazine. "I think I'll like it here," she finally said.

"I think that plate is clean, bro." Katie's voice broke Kendall out of his thoughts, causing him to jump and drop the plate into the sink with a loud thud. He turned and shot a glare at Katie, who had started laughing, before looking over at Riley.

She looked up.

The two smiled at each other.

* * *

**A/N: **So, as you all know, everything can't stay happy for so long. Things really pick up in the next chapter, though the drama started with this one. I realized that I haven't really shown how any of the guys react to one of the Jacksons having a nightmare, so I put it here. I hope you guys liked this chapter.

Cheers,

-Riles


	8. Fiery

**.:Chapter 08 – Fiery:.**

* * *

"Katie, wake up."

Katie opened her eyes and blinked when she saw Riley standing above her, looking down at her. Katie then reached down and pulled her covers up over her head. "If you want me to go on a run with you and Kendall, then forget it," she said, her voice muffled. "I don't like to sweat and running is boring." She paused. "And unlike you, I'd rather _not_ see my brother shirtless."

"Would you rather, James?" Riley teased.

Katie scowled as she reached up and pulled her blankets back down to her shoulders. "Ok, I may have admitted that I had a _tiny _crush on him when I was a kid, but being constantly reminded of it is ridiculous." She sat up, pushing her hair out of her face. "I don't have anything to tease you about."

"And we're going to keep it that way," Riley said. She grabbed a brush and moved to sit behind Katie, starting to brush her hair. "And we're not going running," she added. "You're going to help me and Kendall make breakfast for your mom."

"Why?" Katie obeyed Riley's gentle nudge against her head, so that she lowered it and Riley brushed the back. "We've never done it before."

"That's the idea," Riley said. Katie felt a tug on her head and then reached up her hand to feel that Riley had pulled her hair back into a perfect ponytail. "Not that I'm not saying that you guys don't care about your mom, cause you do. I just think that it'd be nice. Besides, it gets kinda lonely making breakfast for myself."

"That's your own fault, you know," Katie said. She turned to face the older girl. "Because you eat some of the _weirdest_ things and I don't want to get poisoned." She grinned as Riley raised an eyebrow. "That's something that I can tease you about."

Riley pointed a finger at her in-between her eyes. "There's nothing wrong with liking salad dressing on my hamburgers."

"Or horseradish sauce on your fries, or mustard on your pizza, or-"

"I get the point, Katie."

Katie laughed and climbed out of her bed to get her clothes. She grabbed a white and purple t-shirt and a pair of Capri jeans and quickly changed into them before she followed her friend out of her room and into the kitchen. Kendall was standing at the stove, fanning at a smoking pan with a dishtowel. Katie stared, eyes wide, as Riley rushed over and elbowed Kendall out of the way. She grabbed an oven mitt and picked it up before hastily dumping it into the sink and throwing the faucet on.

"Geez, bro, what were you trying to do? Burn your fingerprints off?" Katie asked as she walked over to her brother and gave him a strange look. She then snapped her fingers. "Though that could help you if you ever needed to commit the perfect crime."

"Don't start," Kendall replied. He let out a weary sigh. "I was _trying _to cook bacon." He sat down on the counter. "I'm sorry that I'm not good at it."

Riley turned off the faucet and peered into the sink. "Uh, are you sure about that, mate?" She lifted the pan and leaned closer to it. "Because this doesn't really look like bacon." She turned to look at him, her upper lip curled. "It looks like mud."

"That's butter," Kendall replied.

"How do you burn _butter_?" Katie cried, her eyes flying wide open. She slapped her hands to her forehead before turning to Riley. "Seriously, don't _ever _let him touch _anything_ in the kitchen. It wouldn't surprise me if he managed to blow up the oven just by turning it on!" She leaned against the counter as Riley laughed, scrolling through her iPhone. "So what _are _we going to make mom?"

"Something so simple that even _Carlos _could make it," Riley replied. She set her iPhone down as it started to play some upbeat pop-rock music. She leaned forward; resting her hands on the edge of the counter, leaning forward as she playfully kicked her legs back and forth. "That is, if you follow my instructions exactly."

"Hmm, a chance for you to boss us around, how can you resist?" Kendall said deadpan.

"Hey, Ken_doi_!" Riley reached over and flicked him on the forehead. "Unless you want to burn your house down, you'll listen to everything I say." She smirked at him. "Besides, I'm older than you, so you have to do it anyway." She jumped down from the counter, clasping her hands together. "Ok, so what we need first is eggs, bacon, and tomatoes." She turned to Katie. "You get the tomatoes and I'll show you how to cut them."

"Got it," Katie said. She went over to the refrigerator and pulled it open, grabbing the bag of tomatoes from the drawer at the bottom. She turned back around to see Riley dancing across the kitchen to the music that was playing from her iPhone. "What are you doing?" she laughed.

"What does it look like?" Riley replied. She grabbed a kitchen knife and looked it over before picking up another one. She turned around and bumped into Kendall, who had cleaned the pan that he burned butter in. He looked at the knife that was in her hand and then at her face.

"Whatever the problem is, we can talk it out," he said. "No need to get irrational." He smirked at her.

Riley made a face before moving around him. "Ha ha." She rolled her eyes before taking the bag of tomatoes from Katie's hand. "Come here, I'll show you how to chop them." Katie walked over to Riley's side and leaned against the counter to watch her. "Hockey-Head spray that pan with cooking spray so the eggs don't stick, then turn the burner on underneath it."

"Ooh, how challenging." Kendall's voice dripped with sarcasm as he moved to do what he was told. Noticing the silence behind him, he turned to see Riley and Katie both staring at him. "Kidding!"

"For your sake, you better be," Katie said, resting her chin in her hands.

"I couldn't have said it any better," Riley replied. She turned to Katie, picking up a tomato. "Ok, so cut the tomato in the way that we want for this breakfast, you have to cut it in half…" Katie watched as she cut right through the tomato and then took one half and placed it on the cutting board, open side down. "And then…" her hand moved quickly as she diced the tomato in a few quick strokes. "You dice it!"

"Wow, how'd you do that so fast?" Katie asked, her eyes growing wide.

"Lots of practice and lots of cut fingers," Riley replied. She handed Katie the knife. "So just do it slowly but you need to cut them about the same size."

"Ok." Katie took the knife and started to slowly cut the tomato as Riley watched her closely. Her hand shook as she made sure that she didn't cut her fingers. "Wow, this is a lot harder than it looks. How do you make it look so easy?"

"This is coming from the girl that only knows how to make mustard sandwiches," Kendall pointed out. "Let me just say there is nothing more disgusting than seeing a bag of completely filled with mustard and bread.

Katie slapped the knife down. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop bringing that up? It was the _only_ time that I was wrong and at least I'm now doing something that's going to make up for it." She stuck her tongue out at her older brother. "Besides, you're just jealous that you don't know how to cook!"

"Wow," Riley commented, doing a popping and locking motion along with the music. "Sibling rivalry at its finest." She did a moonwalk before motioning over to Kendall. "Did you get the eggs out?"

"Yep." Kendall reached over and tapped the top of the box.

"Good." Riley moved to Kendall's side and opened the carton of eggs. She looked it over, thinking for a moment, before picking one up. "Ok, so, basically you have to watch the eggs carefully when you're cooking it," she explained. She handed the egg to Kendall and then placed her hand on top of his. "So, like this." She maneuvered his hand so that he hit the egg against the side of the pain and used her thumb and pinky fingers to instruct Kendall to twist the egg and crack it open into the pan. "And then watch it and wait for me to tell you when to flip it over."

She picked up another pan and dropped a couple of slices of bacon into it before turning the heat on underneath it. Katie watched as she bobbed her head back and forth the music that was still playing. _This is probably the most carefree I've seen her since she got here. _Katie finished chopping the tomatoes and waited for her next instructions.

"What's going on?"

Katie turned around to see her mother standing in the doorway to the kitchen, looking at them with a surprised expression on her face. "We're making you breakfast, mom!" She explained. "Or, at least trying to."

"Really?" Mrs. Knight's eyes moved over to Riley before she smiled at all three of them. "That's so nice of you, thank you so much." She moved over and gave Kendall, Katie, and Riley and gave them a kiss on the head. Riley reached up and scratched her forehead, wiping the spot away at the same time. Mrs. Knight put a hand on Riley's shoulder. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Wait, how am I supposed to know when to flip the eggs over?" Kendall asked, slightly panicked.

"It'll only take a minute," Mrs. Knight reassured him and led Riley out of the room.

Katie waited a moment before sneaking quietly out of the other side of the room and poking her head out of the doorway that led to the hallways where Mrs. Knight and Riley were standing and talking. Katie listened hard to hear what was being said.

"And you took out the trash and did the recycling too?" Mrs. Knight asked.

Riley shrugged. "Yeah, I mean, I was up early so I thought that I'd just do it." She looked hard at Mrs. Knight. "Am I…overstepping my boundaries or something? Cause if I am-"

"No, I'm just a little confused," Mrs. Knight said. She raised a finger to her chin and thought for a moment. "Maybe not. Riley, do you usually do all of this stuff at home?"

Riley shrugged and nodded."Yeah, but it's usually only the cooking and laundry. Patrick is supposed to do trash and Noah is supposed to do recycling along with dishes, but they can usually find ways to trick me into doing it." She shook her head. "You wouldn't believe how many times that they've used me being the oldest against me."

"Oh, I see. You're projecting the fact that you miss your family onto the things you do here."

Riley raised an eyebrow. "Were you a child psychologist or anything at any point in your life?"

"No." Mrs. Knight laughed. "I take care of the guys long enough to know that if they start to act differently, it's because of something that they're trying to hide or that they're falling back on." She pushed her hair out of her face. "Like how James cares about his looks so much more in LA because he misses his mother."

Riley nodded.

"But that brings me to my other question, have you told Kendall or Katie why you were brought out here yet?" Mrs. Knight asked.

Katie leaned out the doorway even further, really wanting to catch the conversation now. _I know that they were arrested; it's probably why they were brought out here. But what could they have done that was bad enough for it?_

"Yeah," Riley said slowly. "At least, I _think _I told Kendall. I think he completely fell asleep before it actually registered in his head what I told him." She muttered something under her breath that caused Mrs. Knight to laugh. "I'll tell him again, don't worry. But…I'm not so sure about telling Katie, I don't want to scare her."

"If you tell her delicately, things will be fine, but I'd understand if you want to hold off on telling her for a little bit," Mrs. Knight said. "And if you can't, I'll do it for you."

"No, it's something she needs to hear from me when I'm sure she's ready. 'Cause I know that Patrick won't tell her."

"It's not as bad as you make it seem, you know," Mrs. Knight said.

_What is it?! _Katie thought desperately.

"Yeah, well, I'm my own worst critique, so in my head, it seems like something that could easily make them look at me funny. Don't worry, Mama Knight, I'll tell them and be sure that they know. Don't worry about me. She'll be right."

Katie let out a quiet groan as she walked back into the kitchen. Kendall had turned the small, portable TV on and was watching some sports highlights, the pan on the stove completely forgotten. Katie moved over to Kendall's side and glanced at the TV before looking up into her brother's face. _Idiot. _She rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to the stove. She looked down into the pan as it started to smoke. She reached out and poked Kendall on the side, to get his attention. "I think the egg is ready to be flipped," she said.

She laughed as Kendall looked down into the pan and cursed.

* * *

Riley crossed her legs as she sat on the counter of the sink and rubbed some lotion on her face. She turned her attention to her phone as it started to buzz. Her eyes lit up when she read the name on the phone and quickly answered it. "Hey, Rhu! How's Texas?"

"Texy," Rhuben replied with a slight snort. "How's Minnesota?"

"Flat," Riley replied. The two girls laughed quietly. "So, I'm assuming that Logan is driving you insane with nothing but talk about math and science?"

"Yeah if he's not too busy asking about me and my relationship with Dak," Rhuben replied. Riley could practically see her rolling her eyes. "You'd think he would get over it by now."

"You know he just wants to be sure that you're ok," Riley reminded her. She paused. "But this _is_ Logie we're talking about. The one that would constantly tell us what was in whatever food we were about to eat to try and keep us healthy." She snorted. "It's funny, because back then he didn't know that it was basically all that we got to eat."

"Yeah," Rhuben added quietly. "Hey, did you have a nightmare recently?"

"Yeah." Riley's eyebrows furrowed together. "Why? Did you?" She picked up a stick of eyeliner and twirled it around her fingers, bringing one knee up to her chest. "'Because I've been feeling really anxious lately and I don't know why. I figured it might've been you."

"Mhm, a couple of days ago," Rhuben said. "Thankfully it was one of those petty ones that didn't cause much alarm." _Lucky you. _Riley rested her chin in her hand. "Let me tell you, though, Texas isn't fun without you guys here. We can't trick Logan into doing all of those stupid things that we used to make him do."

"Oh." Riley smiled. "Like the time that Noah had convinced him that rolling around in the mud would keep bees away?" She and Rhuben laughed. "Rhu?"

"Yeah?"

"We don't make sense, do we?"

"Nope." Rhuben sighed in a fake, self-pitying way. "Never could."

"Never would," Riley replied.

"Never should."

"Never may."

"Never must."

"Never might."

"Never can."

"Never will."

"Never shall."

"Never have."

Riley thought for a second and then said, as if she'd just thought of it, "We don't make sense, do we?"

"Oh, I make plenty of sense," Rhuben contradicted her. "You're the one who doesn't make sense."

"Yeah, okay."

"No, really."

Riley laughed again. "Hey, I gotta go or I'm going to be late. But I'll call back soon, ok." She rolled her eyes. "You know...if we can."

"Sure, but if you ever see on the news that someone ended being murdered in Texas because they wouldn't leave their friend alone, then you'll know where to find me," Rhuben replied and the two hung up.

Riley put down her phone and studied her face as she continued to look in her mirror. She brought her hand up to her scar and ran her finger over it, it felt smooth like the rest of her skin, but it was the only imperfection on her face. It wasn't even that long, just going up from her jaw and onto her cheek, but to her it felt like it may as well have been completely across her face.

"If you look in the mirror any loner, you'll break it," Kendall said as he leaned against the doorway.

_That's really what I needed right now. _Riley ignored him as she picked up her eyeliner and leaned closer to the mirror so she could see what she was doing. Kendall must have noticed that she wasn't going to say anything, because he muttered a 'sorry' under his breath and entered the bathroom.

"I just need to brush my teeth," he said, holding up his toothbrush.

"Go ahead." Riley waved a hand at him as she continued to put on her makeup. "I'd have no problem even if you needed to take a piss." Kendall paused in his brushing and looked at her. She looked back at him through the mirror. "We have a habit of busting in the bathroom at each other back home and I'll leave it at that."

"Please do," Kendall replied. He leaned over and spit into the sink before he started to brush his teeth again. "So are you ready for the appearance today? I don't think you're going to be prepared for all of the fans that are going to be there. I mean, it's a _big_ mall. We used to spend whole weekends there."

"I'll be fine, Hockey-Head, thanks," Riley replied. She switched her eyeliner for a stick of mascara. "I've been around a lot of fans before; it'll be no big deal." She tilted her head to the side. "You might want to get prepared for it though…your nervous bladder and all."

"I don't _have_ a nervous bladder," Kendall said sharply.

"Right, so the fact that you always have to go to the bathroom before meeting fans or going on stage is just a coincidence?" Riley feigned innocence. "Then the fact that you get boners every time you're on stage must be a coincidence too." She then grabbed her eye shadow. "Don't try denying that one, your fans take pics of it all the time, so there's proof."

"You've seen them?"

"Kinda can't, it's usually all over my ScuttleButter or Stumble pages. Or fans send them to me to see what my opinion is." Riley's lips curled into a smirk. "Though I can say that I'm not too surprised, what with the long fingers and big hands I mean."

Kendall spit into the sink again. "You love to embarrass me don't you?"

"You have _no_ idea," Riley said.

"I hate you," Kendall said.

"No you don't."

"I know."

Riley finished putting on her make-up (which is actually very little) and set her bag aside, wrapping her arms around her legs. "But that's only because you make it so easy to mess with you. Your bug-eyed expression every time something doesn't go your way or freaks you out is priceless." She ran a hand through her hair as she laughed. She reached a hand up to her neck and started to press her finger into a cigarette burn that was behind her ear, her eyes clouding again.

"Thanks, I work hard on it," Kendall said. He finally tore his eyes away from hers and rinsed off his toothbrush. "Are you ready to go?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Riley turned and jumped off of the counter. "I mean how different can this be when it comes to all of the other appearances that I've done?" She followed Kendall out of the bathroom and the two started to go down to the car. "Hey, uh, I have something I need to ask you?"

"Yeah, what's up?" Kendall turned his head to look at her.

"Remember when I said that I had something important to tell you?" Riley followed close behind him down the stairs. "Well, do you-"

"C'mon! C'mon!" Katie raced up the stairs and grabbed onto Kendall's arm. "If we hurry, I can sell some of your hockey stuff to some fans that won't be able to get into your appearance today." She held up a stack of pictures. "That being said, how many can you sign in twenty-two minutes?"

Riley gave a half smile as she followed Kendall and Katie to the car, where Mrs. Knight was already sitting in the driver's seat, ready to go. She slid into the backseat of the car with Kendall, and started to sign as many pictures as she possibly could. _She must have gotten these as scans from magazines, not many places have pictures of us by ourselves. _When she was finished, she handed them back to Katie.

"Oh, you changed your signature!" Katie remarked, looking them over.

"Yeah," Riley said shortly. After she and her siblings had been adopted by Ronan, she quickly changed her signature from her original 'Riley Jackson' to 'Riley J-McG'. That way, just like with her last name in general, she'd be able to incorporate her deceased parents and her new father in her life. When she and her siblings had shown Ronan how they changed their signatures (though each of them incorporated it differently) she was sure that he started to cry, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

"That's cool, that just means that your stuff signed with your old signature will be worth even more," Katie said with a bright smile, causing Mrs. Knight to laugh.

"Give it a rest, Baby Sister," Kendall said shortly.

"What's the matter, Big Brother?" Katie taunted. She leaned around her seat to sneer at him. "Is your nervous bladder getting to you?"

"Shut up," Kendall said.

The rest of the drive went by quickly and before Riley knew it, they had pulled up to the Mall of America. Even when they had been to Minnesota for Christmas with the guys, they hadn't been to the mall, only because the guys said that it would be too crowded and hectic, especially since there would be so many last minute shoppers around. She could admit that it was the biggest mall that she had ever been to, but not the biggest venue. She placed her hands on her hips as she looked up at the building, wondering what she had gotten herself into.

"Are you coming?" Kendall lightly jostled her arm, grabbing her attention.

"Yeah." She pushed herself away from the car and she started walking. She tilted her head as she looked Kendall up at down, forcing herself not to focus on his ass, though, in her opinion it was a good one. "Do you really think that highly or your ankles or do you just not get that man-capris is a _terrible _idea?" She asked, noticing the space between his shoes and the bottom of his pants. "Why didn't you wear your black jeans? It makes your ass look better."

"I didn't need to hear that," Katie said, slapping her hands over her ears. "Like, I know that girls find him attractive…" She looked her brother up and down. "_Somehow_." Riley snickered as Kendall rolled his eyes. "But seriously? His butt isn't _that _attractive."

"Can we please get off of the conversation about my butt?" Kendall asked.

"Oh, did you want to talk about Riley's?" Katie asked innocently.

"Katie!"

"Hey, it's my fault." Riley reached out and placed a hand on Kendall's arm. "I was the one that brought up your…odd sense of fashion now that I'm not your stylist. But hey, whatever floats your boat." She removed her hand and crossed her arms over her chest. "Even though you do dress like a dork." She let out a slight gasp when they entered the mall. There were stores all over the place and escalators and stairs that reached them. People were milling all over the place. "Whoa!" She grabbed onto Kendall's arm and pointed. "Is that a rollercoaster?"

"Yeah, they even have a water park in here too," Kendall said.

"The water park is the best part!" Katie added, coming up on Riley's other side. "Every time we come here, I always have to check out the water blasters. Where you can pay to take these water guns and shoot innocent bystanders." She leaned closer to Riley. "I did it to the guys all the time and it took them years to figure out that I was the one that was shooting them."

"Devious as a kid, should've guessed," Riley said.

"Like you weren't?" Kendall raised an eyebrow at her.

"Good guess." Riley stretched her arms over her head. "I kinda was, but not as much as I am now." She reached out and looped an arm around Kendall's waist. "Looks like you've rubbed off on me a little." Kendall looked like he was about to answer, but then got distracted by a store that they were passing. He moved over to the window and looked into it. Riley frowned, dropping her arm back to her side. She reached a hand up and scratched the back of her head as she turned to look at Mrs. Knight and Katie, who shrugged in reply.

_Boofhead. _Riley sighed and waited for Kendall to come back before the four of them went over to the area that was set up for them to do their appearance. She looked up at the spiraling areas above them that held the fans that waited to be able to see them. All of a sudden she stopped walking, rubbing her arm.

"You're going to be fine," Kendall said, noticing her movement. "It's just a bunch of people that are going to be there for a couple of seconds to get a picture signed and to take a picture with you."

"I know that!" Riley snapped. "But I haven't done this by myself before."

"You haven't done an appearance by yourself?" Mrs. Knight asked, frowning in concern. "But Ronan said-"

"No, I mean, I've done one by myself before, but at least one of my brothers and sister were with me for moral support," Riley continued to rub her arm. She was starting to become even more anxious than she thought she would in a moment like this. But that just showed a different side of her that not many people saw. She could, on the outside, be as tough as nails, but she could be as sensitive and vulnerable and anxious as anyone else.

"Well, I'm here for moral support," Kendall insisted. His dimple appeared in his cheek. "And so are mom and Katie, don't worry. I'll be right there next to you."

Riley resisted the urge to roll her eyes and sneer at him. She absolutely hated to talk about her feelings, but didn't want him to feel like she wasn't thankful for his support. She pushed down the feeling of insulting him or putting him down in some way and just decided to nod instead. Kendall led her over to the table that had been set up for the two of them and the two waved to their fans before sitting down and bringing up the first person that was there to see them. For the next two hours, they posed for pictures, signed whatever was given to them, and took whatever gift was given to them as well. Just like she did around all of her fans, Riley immediately switched her Australian accent to use when interacting with her fans and pushed all of her personal problems aside to focus on making the day of as many people as she could. Though some of them still managed to notice that she wasn't fully upbeat as she usually was with her brothers and sisters around.

"Just a couple more pictures guys, then everything's done," Katie said as she stood off at the sidelines, watching through the whole ordeal. She was surprised to find that some people wanted her autograph as well.

"We've got about a half hour to forty minutes left over to go around and see whatever stores you want too," Mrs. Knight added with a smile.

"Vans store it is," Kendall said and he and Riley high-fived before allowing a fan to move in-between the two of them to get their picture taken. Once the last person got their photo taken and their things signed, they all went to the Vans store to look over the shoes and other things that were there.

Riley brought a hand up to her mouth as she looked back and forth between three pairs of shoes. Normally she didn't have a problem when it came to buying a pair she wanted, she could usually just pick one and choose it in a matter of minutes. But this time there were a few that had caught her eye, and though she and her siblings each had a 'thing' for their favorite brand of shoes, they made themselves buy one pair each time they went out. She picked up the two pairs of shoes and lifted them into her hands.

"Hey, Hockey-Head, what do you think about these shoes?" When she didn't get a reply, she lifted her head and looked around. "Kendall?" She frowned and replaced the shoes before walking around the store. _Katie and Mama Knight aren't here either. _Riley crossed her arms over her chest and took another lap around the store. She still couldn't find them. _Oh boy. _Riley pulled her phone out of her pocket and let out a sigh when she saw that she didn't have any cell service. She put her phone back into her pocket and hesitantly stepped out of the store.

Crowds walked back and forth in front of her, talking to each other excitedly. Riley bit her lower lip as she looked back and forth, up and down the walkway in front of the store. She walked over to the banister and placed her hands on it, leaning over to look at the levels below her to see if she could find her three companions. She turned and sat down on a nearby bench, reminding herself the same thing that she told Sydney, when he was younger, if he ever got lost.

_"Don't ever go anywhere, just stay in the same place and we'll come and find you."_

Riley brought her knees up to her chest and waited. _Don't worry; they'll come back for you. They're not like Robert._

* * *

"Did you find her?" Kendall asked when his mother walked back over to him and Katie.

"No, she wasn't in the bathroom," Mrs. Knight replied. She hitched her purse up her shoulder. "Are you sure that she left the Vans store?"

"Yes," Kendall replied. He paused. "No." He shook his head. "I don't know, I didn't notice that she had stopped. I went through the store, looked at the shoes, and then left. I thought that she was right next to me."

"Way to go, Big Brother, this was as stupid as the time that you guys played hide and seek in the library and Carlos got stuck in the trash can and you all got locked in because you were trying to get him out." Katie crossed her arms over her chest and looked hard at her brother. "How could you lose someone in a mall this big?"

"_I don't know!" _Kendall yelled at her. "You're really not helping, Katie!" Katie fell silent, her eyes growing wide. Kendall ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry, Baby Sister, I didn't mean to yell at you." He thought for a long moment. _Where would she go if where was lost? _ He snapped his fingers and turned to his mother and sister. "I know where she is, c'mon."

The three quickly walked back around the mall, to the Vans store. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw Riley sitting on a bench, scrolling through her phone. "Hey, there you are." He tried to keep his voice steady as he approached her. Riley looked up and relief flashed through her eyes as she stood up. He surprised her by grabbing her in his arms in a tight hug. "Sorry, I didn't know that you were still in the store."

"It's ok," Riley replied, hugging him back. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Ye-"

"Riley, are you ok?" Mrs. Knight asked as she and Katie crowded around as well. She reached out a hand and cupped Riley's cheek. "I should have warned you that it was really easy to get lost in here. I'm sorry."

"I'm fine," Riley replied, downplaying the situation. "It's ok. Frankly, I just want to go back home."

"Ok, let's go," Mrs. Knight said.

Kendall turned and followed his mother. Riley moved up to his side and wormed her way into his, and she didn't let go until they got back home.

…

..

.

Kendall flipped through a hockey magazine and stopped, doing a double-take, when he recognized Riley in a picture. He looked closer and smiled at the irony when he noticed that it was a Vans advertisement. He knew that she was sponsored/she was endorsing the shoes, but he never really noticed the ads before. He realized that he had been looking at it for a few moments when he heard something. He listened. There it was again. The sound of a door opened and closing and light footsteps. He could hear the footsteps stop outside of Katie's room and this mother's room before stopping outside of his. He waited for the door to open and sat up when the footsteps faded away again. Kendall quickly got up from his bed and went to the door, opening it. He called out to Riley when he saw her at the end of the doorway.

"Where are you going?" He lowered his voice. Whatever Riley was doing, it was obvious she didn't want Katie or Mrs. Knight to find out about it.

Riley stopped about fifteen feet away from him, her back facing him, when he had spoken. She turned around to face him, resting her hand on the banister to the stairs. "Out," she replied after a long moment. "And if you want to know where, you have to come with me to find out."

"The baseball diamond?" Kendall guessed.

"No."

Kendall looked down at her hand and saw that she had her sketch book in it. He knew that she usually drew or wrote in her notebook or worked out whenever she needed to let off some steam. _So there must be something that's really bothering her. _Kendall looked up at her face and studied her carefully, aware that something was off about her.

"All I'm saying is that you won't know where I'm going unless you come with me," Riley continued with an air of mystery. She turned to go back down the stairs, holding onto the sketchpad and the motorcycle helmet tightly in her hands, so she wouldn't run the risk of dropping them.

Kendall barely had to think about it. "Wait!" He went back into his room and quickly pulled on his shoes and grabbed his wallet and phone before following her outside. She handed him an extra helmet and a riding jacket before she put up the kickstand and started to walk it down the driveway and a little ways down the street. She waited until they were a block away before starting it up and the two of them climbed on and she started to drive the motorcycle. Kendall wrapped his arms tightly around Riley's waist as she raced down the otherwise empty streets. Houses whipped by them as they went.

…

..

.

"See? Told ya we'd get back in one piece, Hockey-Head," Riley said as she and Kendall wheeled the motorcycle back up the driveway. Kendall snorted as he helped her put the kickstand back down and rest the bike gently in the driveway.

"Then, apparently, the definition is different for you and me," He said. He pulled off his helmet and shook out his hair. "Are you sure that you're ok?"

"Dude, I told you, I'm fine," Riley replied. She pulled off her own helmet and shook out her hair. "You're acting like it's never happened before. Relax." The two walked into the house and froze in their tracks when they spotted Mrs. Knight in the kitchen. She turned to the two of them, worry and anger written on her face.

"Kendall! Riley! Do you have any idea what time it is?" Mrs. Knight demanded.

"It's not past curfew," Riley spoke up. "We still have a half hour until then." She motioned with her sketchpad over to the clock. She then saw Mrs. Knight's eyes widen and looked down at Kendall's arms. She tilted her head back and let out a soft groan.

_Busted. _Kendall shifted his feet.

"What happened? You're so bruised and scratched!" Mrs. Knight hurried over to Kendall and touched the scratch that was on his cheek. He winced and moved her hand away from his face.

"Mom, I'm ok," he replied. "We're ok. And we're all in one piece so there's really nothing to worry about. Nothing's broken…" He winced. "For the most part."

Mrs. Knight thought about what her son had said for a moment and then she regarded the two of them all over again. "You were in an _accident_?" Her eyes were so wide that they could have rivaled the bug-eyed look that Kendall usually gave.

"A little banged up, but not a wreck," Riley said quickly. She gave a half smile. "But, I'm glad to know that you care so much about my well-being." Her smile faded when Mrs. Knight moved closer to her. "Sorry, that's not funny," she apologized quickly. "I don't really see this whole thing as a big deal, but you do…"

Kendall quickly intervened. "We're not hurt too badly, don't worry." _Then again, that really depends on your definition of being hurt. _He winced when he felt his aching muscles throb. "Really, mom, we're fine. We just couldn't sleep and with the time that we had before curfew, we thought that we'd go and check out some stuff, it's cool."

Mrs. Knight sighed. "Are you sure that you don't need any help cleaning up?"

"No, we can handle it," Kendall replied. He moved forward and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. "It wasn't bad, really. If it was a very bad crash, we would have called home, but it was a minor thing, so we didn't want you to worry."

"I'm a mother, Kendall, I have to worry," Mrs. Knight said. Kendall held his breath as she looked over at Riley. The raven haired girl looked right back at Mrs. Knight with an air of defiance, but didn't say anything. "If you're sure. But I'm going to check on you two tomorrow morning, ok?"

"Sure." Kendall gave his mother a hug before turning to Riley and grabbing onto her hand. "C'mon." He gently lifted her arm, noticing her wince, knowing that her injuries were to blame, and pulled her up the stairs to the bathroom.

Once they reach the bathroom, Kendall turned on the light so they could see. He sat down on the side of the bathtub to assess his injuries. He looked up when he noticed that Riley hadn't moved and saw that she was bracing herself. She unzipped the jacket and carefully shook it off, letting out a quiet _son of a bitch _as the object slid off of her arms to the floor. Kendall had to look away from the skin that had turned bright red. Some spots on her arms were open and blood was coming out. He could tell that she was in a lot of pain, but knew that she had too much pride to admit it. Kendall gently pushed her out of the way to find some antiseptic cream, band aids, and pain pills.

Kendall sat her down on top of the toilet and started to clean her arms. She tried not to move too much, though he could feel her twinge and shake under his hands as her wounds stung. When he lifted his gaze, he noticed that tears were in her eyes. He reached up a hand and gently brushed them away.

"Some night huh?" He said. "First you get lost in the mall, and then we have a wild ride on a motorcycle."

Despite the circumstances, the two laughed.

_"Why are we here?" Kendall asked as he and Riley walked across the sand, their arms brushing against each other as they went. He looked back behind him to look at the motorcycle that was parked on the sand of the lake. He didn't think anyone would come around in a while, so they were relatively in the clear for the time being._

_"What other place would you go to get a good picture to draw?" Riley asked, turning to look at him. Her eyes flashed mischievously as she sat down on the ground, taking off her shoes and socks, burying her feet in the sand. Kendall hesitated; he hated to get sand everywhere, no matter how much he liked the beach. "C'mon, I don't bite." _

_"Not unless you show possession, I remember," Kendall said with a smile. He sat down next to her, taking off his shoes as well. "Sorry that we lost you at the-"_

_"How many times are you going to apologize?!" Riley cut him off. Her hand was flying against the paper on her sketchbook. "It's not like I was crying or anything. God." She bent her head and leaned over the paper, so Kendall couldn't see her face._

_But he knew her well enough to know that there was something she wasn't saying. "Did something happen at the appearance today? You didn't seem to be your normal self."_

_Riley didn't answer him for a moment. "Do you know how many times I was asked that today?" She was quiet. "I didn't think that people would notice. But, apparently, I can't hide it from everyone. I was ok, but…I still had the feeling that something was missing, y'know, because they weren't there with me." She lifted her head and looked at Kendall, her eyes filled with hurt. "And then some opinionated idiot said, 'I never thought that you'd be the kind of person that would go solo."_

_Kendall was silent._

_"And I would never go solo. The fact that they even said that really pissed me off for some reason." She shook her head. "No, it wasn't some reason, it's because that's all I heard. I never thought that you would…" She shook her head. "That's why I don't tell people things; I'm afraid they'll laugh at me or take it the wrong way."_

_"People won't laugh at you," Kendall tried to reassure her._

_"You did." Riley's eyes bored into his._

_"I did?" Kendall wracked his brain, trying to think about it. When did I do that? His heart sank when he figured it out. When she had told him about liking weddings and Hello Kitty. Yeah, he had laughed at her. He didn't think that it would be that big a deal, but if she was getting worked up over it now, then, yeah, she did feel badly about it._

_"Yeah. People always judge me before they get to know me." She shook her head. "Just by looking at me they think that they know everything about me. Why can't I like weddings and Hello Kitty? Is there something wrong with that?" She balled her hands into fists. "I'm so fucking sick and tired of hearing things like that! I'm so sick and tired of being judged, can't people just try and get to know me? I mean, I know that I don't make it easy and I know that for some other people, being a 'celebrity' is weird and-"_

_"Well, some people find you intimidating too," Kendall added._

_His heart nearly broke when he saw the hurt look that took over Riley's face. "Really?" She twirled the pencil in her hand. "Oh…I didn't know that." She deflated, going back to her drawing._

_"It's ok," Kendall said slowly. He hoped that he could help her see the other side of the situation. "It's just that…you're so…tough and self sufficient that most people wouldn't think that you'd be into the sort of things that you don't talk about." He shrugged, digging his hand into the sand. "But I like it just fine."_

_Riley 'humphed' and didn't answer him._

_He sighed before turning and leaning into her, resting his forehead on the side of her head. "I'm sorry I laughed at you," he whispered the apology. "I don't know why I did, but I did. I'm sorry." Riley turned her face towards his and she rested her cheek against him. "I know that you're not the person that everyone sees on the outside. I know that you're an amazing person that I'm proud to call my best friend."_

_"Thanks, Hockey-Head," Riley said quietly._

_"You're welcome, Riles." Kendall smiled and gave her a kiss on the side of the head before leaning back against the sand. When she finished her drawing, she just set her sketchbook aside and scooted back against him. She picked up his hand in hers and played with his fingers as the two sat in silence for a while. They sat like that for a while before Kendall suggested that they get back before curfew._

_"Ok," Riley said, getting to her feet._

_Kendall immediately missed the warmth against his body as he got up as well. The two walked back over to the bike and pushed it off of the sand and back to the parking lot before starting it up again. They don't even ride for over two miles before it happened. They had been coming around the corner and a multitude of things happened. Riley had been leaning so far and Kendall didn't lean far enough so that it created an unbalance, he shifted too much so his weight threw them off, and a branch seemed to jump out of nowhere. Before either of them could react, the two were thrown off of the bike and onto the side of the road. Kendall hit the ground and rolled, feeling his body get scraped on rocks and twigs. _

_He lay on his back, waiting for the world to stop spinning. He briefly closed his eyes and swallowed thickly, pushing down the feeling of nausea, before he opened his eyes again. His ears were ringing. When he swallowed again, it stopped._

_"Kendall?" _

_He could hear footsteps getting closer to him._

_"Kendall!" He could hear his name called a little louder._

_He took another deep breath and then closed his eyes when he felt the helmet get pulled off of his head. Dazed, he looked up into Riley's concerned face. He managed to give a shaky smile. "I don't think hockey hurts this much," he managed to say._

_Riley dropped to her knees, letting out an annoyed mixture of a grunt and a sigh. She reached out and pushed Kendall's hair off of his forehead, checking for cuts. She then roughly grabbed the front of the riding jacket, glaring at him. "Don't do that," she said in a low, warning tone. She started to yell into his face, glaring even harder. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE FUCKING DEAD, YOU JERK!" _

_"Sorry." Kendall sat up, looking at his arms and legs. His jeans were torn at the knees and scraped up a little. He knew that his arms were going to be bruised too, they weren't there yet, but they would be there by morning. He looked over at Riley and let out a light gasp. "Riles…you…"_

_"I'm fine," Riley said quickly, hiding her arms from him. "It's just a scratch." But her wince told him otherwise. "Don't worry about me; we should just get home before your mom freaks." She got to her feet and grabbed onto his hands, helping him up. "Are you ok?"  
_

_"I'm fine," Kendall reassured her. "Really." Riley asked him for the jacket to cover her arms and the two picked up the bike, got back on, and rode home._

"Yeah, I guess," Riley said with a half smile. "There's just one thing you didn't mention though." She stood up, gently moving her arms. They weren't going to scar, they would heal nicely, and it was just going to hurt for a bit.

"What's that?" Kendall stood up as well.

Riley shook her hair out of her face as she looked up at him, standing close to him. She was so close that he could see all of the freckles that were across her nose. So close that if he moved forward a little bit…

"You had the perfect chance…all day…and you didn't take it." She stepped around him and left the bathroom.

Kendall twisted his mouth to the side. He knew exactly what she meant. He cleaned himself off and went to his room. Turning on the light, he was surprised to see something lying on his bed. He walked over to the bed and smiled at the picture that Riley had left there, the one that she had been working on at the lake.

It was a picture of him…

* * *

**A/N: **Whew, sorry it took soooo long for me to get this chapter up. I had most of it typed up, but it took me a while to get the rest of it done. I told you (in the summary) that Riley was going to drag Kendall into her trouble and this was only part of it. You're definitely gonna like the next chapter. ;)

Oh and the next chapter has something in it that I've NEVER written in one of my stories before. So I'm sure you'll like that, too.

Cheers,

-Riles


	9. Blazing

**.:Chapter 09 – Blazing:.**

* * *

Katie grunted as she ran to the side, holding out her lacrosse stick to try and catch the ball that was bouncing her way. She scooped it up and turned, throwing it back against the side of the house. She raced to catch it again. She scooped it up and twirled it around a couple of times before throwing it against the side of the house again. She looked up when she heard laughter and frowned when she saw Kendall and Riley racing each other up the street, running as fast as they could. Though she put up a good fight, there was no way that Riley was going to win as Kendall's longer legs quickly pulled him ahead.

"I win!" Kendall gloated as the two slowed to a walk, putting their hands on their hips as they tried to catch their breath. "So now we know that I'm better than you at thumb wrestling and at running races."

"Actually, you're good at sprinting because you have longer legs, but in an actual race, there's no way that you could beat me," Riley corrected him. "You'd be watching my ass beat you to the finish line the whole way." She smirked at him.

"Who said that was a bad thing?" Kendall returned.

_Oh god. _Katie rolled her eyes as she turned back to her lacrosse ball and stick. She heaved it at the side of the house. _That's probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard him say. _She continued to throw the lacrosse ball against the side of the house, occasionally glancing over at Kendall and Riley as she instructed him through push-ups, sit-ups, and stretching. _He should just get it over with and put himself out of his misery. The whole shirtless thing is clearly not working for him._

"Hey BabySister," Kendall greeted. He got off of the ground and brushed off the seat of his pants. He smiled over at her. "Wow, I haven't seen you play lacrosse in a long time." He stopped and looked at her carefully. "Actually, the last time you played, you hit a girl in the face, so that may be a good thing."

Katie didn't say anything in reply.

"I'm going to go take a shower," Kendall announced before going into the house.

Katie went back to her game, fully aware that Riley was walking over to her. She tried to ignore her, but couldn't when the older teenage girl reached out a hand and caught the ball that Katie was about to miss. She threw it back against the wall, letting it bounce back and fall into Katie's lacrosse stick perfectly. Katie scowled and lowered the lacrosse stick.

"I don't want to play anymore," she said under her breath, moving to go inside.

"That's funny," Riley said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Considering this is the first time that I've ever actually _seen _you play a sport." She scratched the side of her neck. "Since you make it perfectly clear that you'd rather make money, watch movies, or just hang out and do absolutely nothing." She tilted her head to the side. "And the way I see it, you're using it to let off some of your anger and frustration."

"What gives you that idea?" Katie asked, trying to sound calm. "How do you know that I didn't want to start up with the game again?"

"Because you don't like to sweat," Riley replied as if it were obvious. "And because you do the same thing that I do." She paused. "So, is it me that you're mad at or Kendall? Or both because it could easily be both too."

Katie's scowl deepened and before she could stop herself, everything started to pour out. "Why does it always have to be that someone gets in the way of us hanging out? It's always a girlfriend or one of the guys, or something that Gustavo wants them to do. I thought that being back here would make things better between the two of us. That we could hang out again like old times. But his boss keeps making him go to work and he got on that stupid hockey team." She cut herself off, shaking her head. _But you wanted him to be on the team. Now you're sounding like a selfish brat!_

"Keep going," Riley insisted. "I want you to get out everything that you've been feeling."

"Why does he always want to spend all of his time with you?" Katie continued. She reached up and angrily wiped her tears away. "Not that I don't want you two to get together, because I do, I really do. But…he's still my brother." She looked up at the older girl. "Why does he keep pushing me away?"

"Katie, he's not pushing you away," Riley said gently. "And you'd be surprised at how much I want him to spend time with you," she added. "I know that he wants this to be a good vacation for me, but it's supposed to be a good vacation for you, too." She reached out a hand and Katie handed her the lacrosse stick. "I even told Mama Knight, I don't think that he realizes that he's been, somewhat, ignoring you. But that's just Kendall. Once he puts his mind to something, it's hard to get it off of that one thing. It's just because he's freakishly determined." She held up a hand. "Emphasis on the freakish part."

"I know that!" Katie snapped. "I've seen him act like that for years. When the new Nerf gun came out when we were kids, that was all he would talk about. Then it became hockey…and _Jo_…"

"I thought Jo was your friend." Riley laughed.

"Well, not really, we never really talked," Katie admitted. "Kendall didn't even try to get me to get to know her. But, he's my brother and I love him, so I just helped him get together with her after I found out that she was lying about not having a boyfriend. I wanted him to be happy."

"So what makes you think that him trying to do well in the band and getting the hockey team isn't the same thing?" Riley pushed her hair out of her face. "That he isn't trying to make you guys happy. Because he agreed to go off to LA so James could get his chance, but he could have quit the band anytime he wanted."

"He wouldn't have done it," Katie denied.

"Why do you think?" Riley pressed.

Katie sighed, dropping her arms. She dug her toe into the ground and muttered under her breath. "Because he's a good friend." She risked a peek up at Riley and noticed that she was still looking at her. Katie tilted her head back. "And he wouldn't stop doing Big Time Rush now because the guys need him and because he really is doing it to help me and Mom to have a good life. If it wasn't for the fact that they went out to LA, we wouldn't have been able to have any of the opportunities that we've had."

"Exactly." Riley reached out and rested her hand on Katie's head. "I know that you're worried about your relationship with Kendall, especially now that you guys are growing up. I was the same way when Julius wasn't around as much. Honestly, I was mad at him for a while, because he didn't have to go through what we did, but he was staying back home and working hard at an education to help us in the long run, so I was able to forgive him."

"Why does growing up have to suck?" Katie grumbled.

"Because that's life," Riley explained. "And life's a bitch."

Katie smiled and laughed, giving Riley a hug.

* * *

"Are you paying cash or credit?" Kendall turned away from the register to look at the total for the customer in front of him.

As he waited for the response, he looked around the grocery store. It was more crowded than usual, and he was sure that it was because of the people that were trying to get him to be his cashier. So far he had already signed five boxes of cereal because of the adults that had recognized him. His gaze moved to the windows of the store. He could see some fans that had been waiting for him all morning, waving signs and waiting for him to go out. When he had gotten into work that morning, he took as much time as he could for them, but then eventually had to duck into the back of the store just so he could get some work done. He had asked his boss if he could either have the day off or find a way to have it that he worked at strange hours so the fan presence wouldn't hinder how the store worked.

He was already being called 'Superstar' by his co-workers and had been mauled when he tried his usual job of cart wrangler. _I don't know how much more of this I can take._

"Uh, I'll pay with credit," the customer said, pulling out her credit card.

"Alright." Kendall pressed a few button on his register. "Please turned the card so the strip is facing you and slide it through the machine. Wait a minute and then punch in your credentials." He stood bac k and waited for the customer to do as she was told before he printed out the receipt. "Here you go, have a great day."

He flashed the customer a smile, waiting for her to walk away, before he let out a longwinded sigh and pulled his beanie off of his head. He ran a hand through his hair, scratching his head, ignoring the sudden, shrill screams that came from outside of the store. He gave a wry smile. The one thing that he couldn't understand, being part of a boyband now, was the fact that he could do something as simple as sneeze and then there would be comments on Stumble or Scuttlebutter or Just Jared Jr. saying how he sneezed in a cute way. It was flattering at times, but it was still hard for him to get used to.

"So I see that you decided to try and keep your feet on the ground," Kayslee said as she pushed her cart up to Kendall's eye. He looked at her warily, but gave a polite smile. "I mean, getting on the All Star team and now working at Sherwood's. People can't say that you have an ego."

"Well, if you wanted someone with an ego, you were going to have to talk to James about that," Kendall said with a laugh. "But you remember him; he was always running around like that."

Kayslee gave an airy laugh. "Yeah, I remember that." She threw her hair over her shoulders as she started to unload her food onto the conveyer belt. "So how are the other boys?" I haven't heard from them or you in a long time." Her eyes flashed over to Kendall.

Kendall looked at Kayslee warily as he started to scan her items. "They're fine, I guess. We've all been so busy, we have some friends that we've all taken in for vacation-"

"Oh yes, I remember her." Kayslee's smile widened. "Really…outgoing."

"Yeah, that's something that she usually gets a lot," Kendall agreed.

"I'll bet." Kayslee leaned towards Kendall. "But, you haven't told me how you were doing…how are you?" Her eyes flashed. Kendall looked closely at her and her eyes flashed as she looked back at him. Kendall put the groceries down.

"Ok, Kayslee, what is it?" He asked her. "If this is about us…" he lowered his voice. "If you wanted to get back together-"

Kayslee's face finally broke. "No, Kendall, I don't want to get back together with you." She glared at him. "In fact, I wanted to get _back_ at you." Kendall's eyebrows rose. "I can't believe that you went off to LA without calling me or whatever. And then you started to go out with all of those girls, that blonde, the girl at the beach, and then that other girl-"

"Wait a second!" Kendall held up a hand. "I _never _went out with Sandy! She was just a completely psycho that couldn't understand that I didn't want to be with her and that I was with Jo. But then Jo and I broke up and-"

"Yeah, yeah, everyone'd heard about it," Kayslee interrupted. At Kendall's shocked look she slowly smiled and nodded. "Yeah, Kendall. Everybody in Minnesota knows your business now. You guys are heroes." Kayslee gave a short laugh. "You actually made something of this place and everyone wants to be able to say that they knew you when. Unfortunately for me, I had to be the one that had all of the attention on me. How do you think I felt when I saw you with those girls? People started to make fun of me…I was humiliated. Dumped without having actually been dumped."

"Kayslee, I-"

"So, no, Kendall, I don't want to get back together with you. In fact, I don't want to be with you at all." She leaned closer to him, lowering her voice to a whisper. "I want to do the same thing that you did to me. I want to humiliate you and leave you with no friends."

"I didn't humiliate you!" Kendall insisted.

"That's what you think," Kayslee replied. She took a step back, looking at her half empty cart and then smirked up at Kendall. "I don't need any of this. I just came in to see you. So you can put them back." She stepped around her cart and started to walk out of the aisle. "Oh and you can be sure that I'm going to make things worse for you than you did for me."

Kendall watched her leave, not sure what to do.

* * *

"You're going to have to pick up the pace if you want to get back to your old self," Jessie said as she picked up a tray of plates and carried it around the counter to take to the tables. "All of that time in LA must have made it so that you got used to things having been done for you."

Mrs. Knight gave a half smile as she continued to fill out a check for a customer. She tried not to get annoyed by the comment, she was only teasing, but it was still getting on her nerves. _You decide to try and help your son and his friends and this is what you get in return? _She finished up the check and walked it over to the table that needed it before picking up a couple of menus and dropping them onto an empty table. She then went back over to the register to pick up the silverware that had been wrapped up in colorful napkins and put them on the table as well.

"Why is it so busy around here?" Mrs. Knight asked Jessie as the two went back behind the counter. She looked around the diner to see that all of their wait staff was on the floor. But no matter how fast they moved, it seemed like nothing was getting done as quickly as they wanted it to. "I'm working just as hard as I used to."

"Well, we're still understaffed a bit," Jessie replied. She let out a deep breath, wiping sweat off of her forehead. "The manager has been looking for someone to take the job for a while, but no one has really shown any interest."

"Is he looking for anyone in particular?" Mrs. Knight asked after a moment. "Like, do they need to have experience or is he just looking for anyone that can take the job so it can be filled?"

"I don't know, you're going to have to ask him," Jessie replied with a shrug. She reached out and elbowed Mrs. Knight on the arm. "I hope you're not asking to take on more work, you might not be able to handle it."

Mrs. Knight's eyes narrowed. "I'm sorry, what's that supposed to mean?"

"How much work can you do in LA as a, what is it called?" Jessie thought for a moment. "Oh yeah, that's right. A 'momager'." She used condescending air quotes with the words. Mrs. Knight frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "How much work can you do in LA as a momager? I mean, you put up someone's schedule and you just sit around and hope that they get to the place they need to be. It's not rocket science."

Mrs. Knight resisted the urge to snap back at her.

Comments like that had been flung around ever since she had started to work there again and it was really starting to get on her last nerve. But she had instilled in her son and daughter and in the other boys that they had to be as patient as possible with other people, no matter how much they were trying to get under your skin. When it came to hockey or other sporting events, that was usually thrown out the window, but it was something that she was proud to have as a character strength.

Instead, all she said was, "it's a lot harder than you think." Mrs. Knight checked to be sure that there was no one else in her area of the restaurant before she took off her apron and went to the manager's office. She knocked on the door before going inside. "Hey, Mr. Clark, I heard that you were looking for someone to take up another waitress position?"

"Yes, I am, actually," Mr. Clark replied, looking up at her. "Why? Did you have anyone in mind that you could take the position?"

"I do, actually," Mrs. Knight replied with a warm smile.

* * *

Riley pushed her glasses up her nose, looking up as Kendall opened the door to her room and stepped inside. "What?" She asked shortly.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go on another run before dinner?" Kendall drummed his fingers on the doorknob.

"No," Riley returned to the movie that she was watching.

"Well, then, do you want to watch-"

"No."

"What about-"

"Fuck off, Kendall!" Riley finally lost her patience, slapping her hands down onto the bed. "I don't want to do _anything _ok?! Just leave me alone!" She grabbed a pillow off of the bed and threw it at him. Kendall caught it against his chest and looked at her.

"So are you avoiding me now?" He stepped into the room. "'Cause ever since the motorcycle accident, you've been running hot and cold with me and if you're avoiding me, I'd rather you tell me that instead of snapping at me for nothing."

"If I were avoiding you, then I wouldn't be sitting here right now," Riley shot back. She closed her laptop and roughly pushed it aside. "And if you can't take me snapping at you, you can just leave!" She got off of the bed and went over to the desk, busying herself with the random objects that were sitting there. She pulled her lighter out of her pocket and started to flick the top open and closed. She used her other hand to run it through her hair.

"So if you're not mad at me, then who are you mad at?"

"You've got two guesses," Riley lifted her head, so she was staring at the wall in front of her, but didn't turn around.

"Riley," Mrs. Knight said as she pushed open the door to the room and stood next to her son. "We need to talk about this. I'm sorry about-"

Riley whipped around, her eyes flashing with anger. "There's your answer," she said to Kendall, pointing over at Mrs. Knight. "I'm mad at your mother. Though, honestly, I don't even know why, it's not like I didn't see it coming at some point. I mean, it's just like I told you at the lake, people always judge me before they get to know me."

"I didn't judge you!" Mrs. Knight said, trying to stay calm. "I merely asked you a question; you were the one that blew it out of proportion."

"Bullshit!" Riley spat.

"Hey!" Kendall reached out an arm in front of his mother, who had gasped at Riley's curse, and stepped forward. He glared at Riley. "I don't care how mad you are, I don't care if you're having the worst day of your life. I don't even care if my mom insulted you first, but don't you dare ever talk to her like that!"

Riley sneered at him.

"So if you've got a problem-"

"I've got a problem with her, not you," Riley interrupted, her eyes shooting over to Mrs. Knight again. She knew that she was really stepping over the line of being rude. But she was pissed and angry and hurt and frustrated. "I'm trying to change, but things like this aren't making me. How can I grow to become the person that I know that everyone can see in me, but I can't, if stupid shit like this keeps coming up?"

"Watch your language please," Mrs. Knight said in a low voice. "I will not have you disrespect me like that." She held up her hands, pushing Kendall's arm away. "Now, I know that you're angry, but I told you before, I didn't think that you actually did it. I only asked if you knew anything about it."

"What happened?" Kendall asked, turning to his mother.

And as she explained, he got angrier and angrier.

Mrs. Knight had gotten Riley the job at the diner and her first couple of days had gone by perfectly fine. With her working there, they didn't have to worry about being rushed to get orders done. And with the work that she had done in the Cascade Care back in Los Angeles, she quickly adapted to the way that the café in Minnesota worked. Plus, it gave her time to have something to do while she was at the house by herself. Kendall was working or at the rink practicing with the team, Katie was in school, and Mrs. Knight was working; now she didn't have to complain about being bored. She thought that it was a good idea. Up until recently.

To her, it was just a coincidence. It was weird that as soon as she started to work there, some of the customers started to complain that money was missing or their whole wallets were missing. Things were ok at first, they were just asked if things were misplaced or if they were sure that they had what they were looking for. Then a watch went missing. A checkbook. Someone's phone. They were all brought back within the next half hour, put back into the spaces where they were discovered to be missing. Then the word started to spread that there was a thief. Riley ignored it; she knew how people could fall into the 'mass hysteria' mind-set once one thing was said. So she just continued to do her job. That is, until Mrs. Knight pulled her aside and asked her if she knew anything about it. She could tell just from the look in her eyes that she was being accused of it. It would be the simplest transition of thoughts, why she was sent out to LA to things disappearing. It couldn't have been that hard to figure out what anyone would think.

As soon as she was asked that, the other people that had worked there started to look at her funny. She couldn't work on her tables without turning around and potentially bumping into someone. The mass-hysteria had made itself known and everyone had turned to look at her funny every time she went by, each time she minded her own business. She couldn't even go on a break without someone coming and hovering around her. Shift after shift it was the same thing and when Mrs. Knight asked her again, if she had noticed anything, she couldn't take it, and had left. It wasn't her fault that Kendall had just caught her in a bad mood, but she had to take it out on someone.

She was just glad that Katie wasn't there.

"I know that you're angry of being asked about it, but, like usual, you're blowing everything out of proportion and jumping to conclusions," Kendall said, turning to Riley. She could see anger flash through his eyes. "And here I thought that you'd actually changed since I met you."

"Oh yeah, I changed all right," Riley snorted. "Having four teenage guys that know nothing about how the real world works, that really changed me. Thanks I didn't get the memo." She brought her hands up into the 'a-ok' sign. "I changed so much that Ronan was so scared of the way that we were acting that he sent us off to go on a vacation with you guys because he was scared that we'd do something worse and put everyone else in danger. I was arrested, ok?!" Riley finally burst out. "We, Rhu, Pat, No, and I fucking were arrested! So everything that you've probably heard about us is true! Yes, we were arrested for assaulting someone. And that wasn't my fucking fault either! It wasn't our fault at all but _no_! One look at us and we were the ones to blame! We're _always_ the fucking ones to blame!"

"But you did get into a fight," Mrs. Knight pointed out.

Riley snorted. "Of course," she replied after a second. "It's kind of hard to defend yourself if you don't actually do anything."

"And that's your life motto right?" Kendall jumped in. "To always attack back even when you don't have to? It makes a lot of sense. My mom, my sister, and I have done nothing but try to make you feel at home here and just when I thought you were starting to have a good time, you have to go around and ruin everything because you feel like you have to attack back!" He started to walk towards her, and Riley stood her ground, looking at him defiantly. "It's so pathetic that we keep trying to do things for you to make you happy and you can't ever stay that way."

"Get out of my face!" Riley hissed.

"And you always have to find something wrong with whatever we try to do. It's like you enjoy being unhappy and alone," Kendall continued. "But, hey, if that's what you want, then so be it."

"Kendal, I'm warning you-"

"And if we can't do anything to make you right, why do you even bother staying here?"

"I didn't want to come here!" Riley threw her hands into the air. "I wanted to stay home with my dad and brother, but _you_ had to be the one to open his big mouth and bring me out here!" She sneered again. "And you wasted that opportunity too!" Her eyes flashed as she changed the subject, causing Kendall to scowl at her.

"Why should I have taken it when you made it so perfectly clear that you didn't want to be here in the first place?" He was now starting to hiss as well. "And here you wanted to 'go back to the way that you used to be' and you're really showing that by being pissed about nothing."

"You think being accused of stealing is nothing?" Riley barked a cruel laugh. "You're even more diluted than I thought."

"Better than being a bitch," Kendall shot back.

"SHUT UP!" Riley screamed.

"MAKE ME!" Kendall shouted back. Riley pulled her fist back and punched Kendall in the face. Her arm dropped to her side as Kendall stumbled back a few steps, holding onto his eye. Mrs. Knight let out a cry of shock. "What the?" Kendall turned back to Riley, glaring, and shot up his hand, slapping her across the face.

The sound of his hand hitting her cheek was the only sound in the otherwise empty room.

Riley's head whipped to the side and her glasses flew off of her face. She kept her head turned to the side, breathing heavily, her face in her face, frozen in shock. Kendall took a couple of deep breaths, lifting his eyes to his mother's. She was staring wide eyed at the two teenagers. Then the gravity of the situation fell on Kendall. Riley reached a hand up to her cheek, feeling it sting. _Son of a bitch. _Her eyes widened a little as she turned back to Kendall, who watched her, waiting for her reaction. "Wow," she said quietly. "That actually hurt."

"Riles, I'm so sorry," Kendall started to apologize. Riley held a hand up in front of his face.

"Don't," she said slowly. "I needed that." She sat down on the edge of her desk. "But I can't believe that actually hurt." She pulled her hand away, showing off her bright red cheek. Kendall, on the other hand, brought his hand up to his face to cover the swelling that was coming up to his eye. "I never thought it would," she whispered.

"Ok!" Mrs. Knight raised her hands into the air. "We need ice!" She walked over to Kendall and grabbed onto his arm before going over to Riley's and grabbing onto hers as well. "I don't know what it is that's going on with the tow of you, but you need to work it out!" She walked the teenagers down into the kitchen and forced them into chairs next to each other before getting ice packs. She handed it to them and they pressed them over their wounds. "Now, you two are going to talk things over and then I'm going to have a talk with you, young lady," she said to Riley.

"Ooh, young lady." Riley's words dripped with sarcasm. "Are you going to spank me too?"

Kendall snorted a laugh and Mrs. Knight turned and glared at him. "Sorry," he apologized quickly. Mrs. Knight left the room and Kendall sighed, slouching down in his seat.

Riley pulled her hair out of her face and crossed her legs at the knee, bobbing her foot. The tension in the room was palpable. "Why?"

"Why what?" Kendall shifted the ice pack that was on his eye.

"Why is it that you can go after Jo just fine, no problems at all? And then you could go after Lucy with no problems at all? But when it comes to me, you act like a little baby and say nothing?"

"Cause I don't know how _you_ feel," Kendall replied. "With Jo and Lucy, it was easy to tell how they felt. But with you…one minute you could show interest, and then the next you'll say that we're friends and I don't know if that's what you really mean."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Riley slapped her hands down onto the table. She wiped water off of her puffy cheek. "It's painfully obvious to, like, everyone that I…" she moved a hand over her mouth, resting her elbow on her knee, her knee bobbing up and down. Her face was starting to turn red. "God, you're such an idiot."

"Why am I an idiot?" Kendall asked.

"Because ever since you got back from tour, I've been trying to get you to notice how I felt." Riley looked away from him. "I was going to tell you at the party, but you were interested in Lucy. I didn't care that you could potentially get another girlfriend, because I knew that there was a good chance of it. So, as a good friend, I backed off so you could be with her. But…I still tried to get you to notice…and you didn't…and that really sucked because you were too busy looking at her."

"If you were jealous-"

""I wasn't jealous, I was pissed, there's a difference," Riley quickly corrected him. She pulled the ice pack off of her face and touched her jaw before replacing it. The hard look was still in her eyes. "See, I didn't have a problem with _her_ exactly. I had a problem with the fact that you keep _ditching me_ for her…" Riley shrugged. "And because she was copying my style so it seemed like-"

"Like I would rather have the knockoff than the real thing," Kendall finished for her.

"You're smarter than you look," Riley muttered. "And what makes this even more pathetic is that fact that you've had my attention for a while, and you didn't even do anything about it."

"I told you, it's because-"

"I know, because you weren't sure how I felt."

"And because I didn't want to ruin our friendship if you didn't feel the same way. So the time that I _did_ notice what you were doing, because I did at times, I talked myself into thinking that I was imagining it. That it was just wishful thinking and that you wouldn't want to be with a guy like me."

"Which is funny because I would constantly wonder why you'd want to be with a girl like me when I realized, the first time, that you liked me." She rolled her eyes. "Y'know, especially since you were still with Jo."

"And I don't know how you felt about that either."

"Because I didn't feel anything about that." Riley cracked her knuckles by squeezing her hand into a fist. "Not that it'd make a difference, you say that you're my best friend, yet you don't know how I feel about anything. You don't know _anything_!" Riley winced and pushed the ice pack harder onto her cheek.

Kendall took the ice pack off of his eye and looked at his reflection in the window next to him. He already had a black eye. _First I get bruises on my arms and cuts on my face. And once those heal, I get a freaking black eye. _He put the ice pack back to his eye and looked over at Riley, who was sitting next to him, sullenly. He started to smile and then started to laugh. Riley looked over at him, waiting for him to finish laughing, but then he started to laugh even harder.

"What's so funny?" She asked, scowling at him.

"We look ridiculous," Kendall stopped laughing long enough to reply before he started laughing again. Riley thought about it for a moment and then started to laugh too. "I'm sorry I slapped you," he said quietly.

"No worries," Riley said. "I'm sorry I punched you in the face."

"And I thought your joke punches hurt," Kendall replied. He shifted in his seat. "I feel bad for whomever you got into a fight with, then."

_Ouch_. Riley winced, turning her head away. She didn't want to be reminded of that, and all that she had ever since she got to Minnesota was reminders. She could (somewhat) admit that it was partially her fault. She wasn't trying to make things good there and when it did start to slightly get better, she had to go and make things worse again. It was her curse, until she got a good snap back to reality; she made sure that other people would get hurt before she could get hurt herself. She had been trying to break out of that habit for the longest time, but it was obviously going to take more time to do it. "Makes me wonder why you even put up with me."

"Well, you know that already, right?"

Her lips curled up into a smirk. "You like me even when you hear about some of the things I've done. You don't care?"

Kendall shook his head. "Why would I care about your past or the rumors or what I've heard other people say about you and the things you do?" He used his one good eye to look at her. "It's your personality I like, Riles. Everything else never mattered to me."

Riley smirked at him. "Good to know. Now you're going to have to put up with me for a while."

Kendall was so scared that he was imagining things that he actually pinched himself. He then winced before looking over at her. "So this is really happening?"

Riley nodded. "Yes, boofhead, it's really happening." She then reached out and grabbed the front of Kendall's shirt, pulling him closer to her. The legs of his chair scraped against the floor as it was moved too. Her eyes flashed with challenge. "Now are you going to kiss me or what?"

Kendall started laughing again but calmed down long enough to kiss her.

* * *

**A/N: **There was a bit of a time jump between the last chapter and the part at the beginning with Katie. And then another time jump from Mrs. Knight's part to Riley's. Just in case that was confusing. I had to do it or else I never would have gotten to that part of the chapter at all and it needed to be there, and I didn't really like how I made that part of the chapter start, but I liked it overall.

So what'd you think? I said last time that I would put something in this chapter that I never wrote before and I was actually really iffy about keeping it in here, especially with whether or not Kendall's slapping Riley would make things worse or not. I went back and forth with it a few times to see which would make more sense and I think that her being calm about being slapped makes more sense than her going berserk only because of the fact that she didn't feel she was in any immediate danger.

Ok, that didn't really make sense. If it were Robert slapping her, she would probably freak out and break down. If it were Gustavo the same thing might happen. If it were Ronan, she'd probably be more scared than anything else because it was her father/an authority figure she respects and her dad of course. If it makes sense, the way I see it, if it were any of her friends or her siblings, she would see it as a slap back to reality more than anything else.

And to Lella-Kiley-Luvr: I actually had it planned as a secret/surprise to have stories of what went on with Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah with the other guys as stories. The only thing I'm having trouble with is a side-plot for the Patrick and Noah ones as there wouldn't be romance for them, depending on how I worked it out. And putting them up along with all of the other stories I have panned (and some neglected) as well.

Cheers,

-Riles


	10. Heated

**.:Chapter 10 – Heated:.**

* * *

Riley pulled open the door to her room, reached out, grabbed Kendall's arm, and pulled him inside as he was walking by. He let out a grunt as she grabbed onto his shoulders and pushed him against the now closed door. He blinked and looked down at her.

"Hey." he grinned.

"Hey," Riley replied. She stood up on her tiptoes and leaned into Kendall, giving him a kiss. Kendall responded immediately, wrapping his arms around her waist and holding her against him as they kissed again. And again. And again. At the interested look on Kendall's face when she pulled away, she said, "Hey, I needed something to think about when I talk to your mom." She squinted an eye as she smirked. "And a piece of advice, girls don't like it when everything is romantic."

"I wasn't objecting," Kendall said. He held up his hands as he smiled, but then dropped the smile. "But why do you sound like you're…anxious to talk to her?"

"Mm, probably because all of my conversations with adults normally don't end well," Riley replied, giving him a pointed look. She crossed her arms over her chest, raising an eyebrow. "What are you still doing here anyway? Don't you have practice before the big game tonight?"

Kendall grimaced.

"Ohhhh." Riley nodded. "I get it, you're nervous."

"Seriously, your guys' perceptiveness is so scary it should be its own horror movie." Kendall cracked. He shoved his hands into his pockets before leaning against the door. "More than I thought that I would be," Kendall admitted. "It's kinda like when I first tried out for the team. But now it's even worse. What if I make a fool of myself?"

"You make a fool of yourself every day how is this any different?" Riley reached out and tweaked his nose. "Boofhead, you're going to be fine." She placed her hands on her hips. "Why don't you ever believe anyone when they tell you that?"

"Why don't you?" Kendall returned.

Riley sucked in a breath, running a hand through her hair. "There are a lot of reasons why. Yes, most of them have to do with Robert's ways of keeping us next to him and pushing us, but there are a lot of other reasons."

"Any that I know?" Kendall shook his hair from his face.

"No." Riley crossed her arms over her chest, jutting out her hip. He knew that look; she wasn't going to talk, no matter how many times he tried to get her to do it. Not at that moment, anyway. "But, I promise that I'll tell you when I think you need to know; otherwise I think I'd go crazy keeping it all inside." She paused. "Oh, well, crazier than usual." She raised a finger and pointed at him. "I knew that you were going to say it first, so I beat you to it."

"Only difference being that I wouldn't mean it," Kendall said quietly.

Riley bobbed her head. "Mm, yeah. Probably." She scratched the back of her head. She looked at her watch. "You're going to be late." Kendall gave a half smile and pushed himself off of the door and moved over to her. He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving the room. Riley let out a sigh and walked out of her room and into the kitchen. She slid into the chair across from her and Mrs. Knight calmly put down the newspaper. "So you wanted to talk to me?"

"Well, talking usually involves two people so what I was thinking was that we'd be able to talk to each other," Mrs. Knight replied, clasping her hands together. "Do you want to go first?" Riley's eyebrow twitched and she continued to look back at her. "Guess not." Mrs. Knight scratched at her eyebrow. "I know that you don't liked to be judged by people and I know that you don't like to be patronized, but at the same time, you don't make it that easy to be a friend or to have a parent have to, to be blunt, deal with you." She said. "And I'm trying to understand, Ronan's told me some things-"

"Did he tell you that I'm bipolar?" Riley broke in. "I mean, I assume that he tells you things like that about us, just so you can help us if we need it. Like you did with the whole nightmare thing."

"He's mentioned it," Mrs. Knight admitted. "But I'm sure that's not the problem that we're talking about."

"You're a smart woman," Riley said. She examined her fingernails as she thought about what she was going to say. "Why do you put up with all five of us? All we've done is make things harder for you guys. You had to buy more food than usually, spending thousands of dollars just so we have something to eat when we come over. You always have extra pillows and blankets around whenever one of us stays over. You give us so many chances when we talk back to you or are just plain rude and, honestly, we don't get it." She tilted her head back, looking at the ceiling, before looking at her again. "You know we don't want a new mom."

"Who said I was trying to be your mom?" Mrs. Knight replied. "Yeah, I'm dating your dad, but that's it. He's someone I like to spend time with, he's, in a way, my co-worker, and you guys, his kids, are my friends. But at the same time, you guys still aren't over everything that went on with you guys and you're probably not going to be for a long time, but you still have to be patient with the rest of us when it comes to being on the outside looking into your problems."

Riley nodded.

"That being said, I understand why you were so upset about me asking if you knew anything about the thefts that have been going on at the diner," Mrs. Knight continued. "I don't know what you've been through back in Australia when you were growing up, but I do know that you all have gotten into some trouble from what you all have told me. And even though you guys are slowly starting to tell us what you all have been through so you can work through it, there is always going to be a lot that we're not going to understand, so you have to be patient instead of jumping to conclusions."

"Mama Knight…" Riley ran a hand through her hair. She noticed that the younger girl's hand was shaking. "I don't think you realize…the kind of stress I'm under." Mrs. Knight started to speak, but Riley continued. "No. Not with the media…not the public eye, not with my friends. But with my family. My brothers and sister aren't putting pressure on me, but my parents are." She took a deep breath before looking Mrs. Knight in the eye. "You know about my parents' death, right?"

Mrs. Knight slowly nodded. "Yes, they died in a fire."

"But do you know how the fire started?" Riley pressed. Mrs. Knight continued to look in Riley's eyes as she slowly shook her head. "Well, I guess its best that you don't know that then." Riley gave a half smile before falling silent. There was a long moment before she started to speak again. "I know it was an accident. It was ruled an accident…but knowing the truth puts an unbelievable amount of pressure and guilt on me." She shook her head. "Angel…he says that's the reason that I always try to do things for my brothers and sister instead of letting them do it on their own, that's why I usually do the laundry and the cooking and try to make things easier for them to have it done before they can even think about it. Besides the fact that cooking and laundry is part of my chores. That's why I always sit up late waiting to see if something can happen. I know I don't have to, I know that it gets on their nerves from time to time. But I can't help it!"

Mrs. Knight moved a hand to her mouth. She was surprised that Riley wasn't crying but knew that even if she felt it, Riley would never let her see it. She had a hard look on her face, her eyebrows lowered. She was speaking quickly, but not in a loud tone so that she was yelling.

"I feel so much guilt and anger and hatred for everything that we've been through that I can't help but be a mother to them, even though Rhu is only younger than me by five minutes and is my twin and doesn't need one. That's why I'm so angry all the time. You'd think that I've gotten better about it since I met the guys, but I know when to show it and I'm still learning about how not to lose my temper which is harder than people would think. So whenever people are always like 'calm down, it's not a big deal' or 'you can be such a bitch sometimes' or when we first met you guys and you pointed out to me that I wasn't my brothers' mother or that other tells me that I can be a jerk or rude, it just reminded me of things that I wish that I could forget. You see, the guilt is never going to go away, unless I can make peace with the whole thing. And I'm probably never going to make peace with the whole thing because I'm so sad. And the worst thing about that is that I feel more alone than sad, even when I'm around a lot of people. So every little thing that brings up the personality that I have now and the things that I've done before…being reminded that changing to the person that I used to be, before everything went downhill, is harder than anyone can expect.

"So when you asked if I knew anything about the stuff that was being stolen around the diner and things like that…I immediately think back to my guilt and my anger towards life and myself and how I just want things to be better for all of us, no matter how I have to do it. That's why I don't make friends very easily, though I do become friends with girls easier than guys, because I'm so scared that we're never going to be able to get over it. I mean, think of Syd, he was only one when they died and he barely remembers them at all, only things that we've told him about them."

"What about Kendall?" Mrs. Knight asked. Riley looked interested and the woman continued. "I saw the chemistry between the two of you before you even admitted that you guys were their friends, probably before any of you realized it. And for a while I knew that you guys were never 'just friends' because you felt too much and put too much trust in each other to be able to be 'just friends' or just 'best friends'. But that also brings up all of your other friends as well. They're affected by everything that you all do too. What about them?"

"Kendall…" Riley let out a breath of air, blowing it off of her forehead. "He…just like all of my friends…are special enough to be able to put up with me. I know I don't make things easy for them at all, but I'm glad that they're continuing to give me a chance, because I'm scared that at some point they're going to stop caring and leave me." She bowed her head. "Just like other people have…that's why my siblings and I are so close. We're scared of constantly being left. It's happened enough."

"And that's why you weren't sure if Ronan really wanted to adopt you guys," Mrs. Knight said.

Riley nodded. "Same reason that Rhu and I know how to be independent from each other. We're close; don't get me wrong, but in a way that most people don't see it normally. We tease each other and give advice…we don't really hug, we don't say we love each other…at least I don't remember every saying it out loud. We learned how to be independent from each other in case we were taken from each other." She pushed her hair out of her face. "And that's why I've been trying so hard to get through it all and to change, but things keep getting thrown back in my face and it's like it not even worth it."

"And that's why you get in trouble?"

"Actually we get in trouble because we get caught," Riley corrected her. "But, sure, we do things that are unorthodox to other people's version of fun because we find it fun. The whole getting caught thing, not so much."

"And that you sneak out of the house?" Mrs. Knight gave her a pointed look.

"Oh, you know about that?" Riley asked.

She knew that Mrs. Knight was referring to the times that Kendall would sneak out of the apartment o meet up with her at the abandoned pool that she and her siblings had found in LA ages ago. They usually went there to talk or if they couldn't sleep, just because it was somewhere that they didn't have to worry too much about being interrupted. Sure, there was the security guard that came around from time to time, but they hadn't been caught yet.

"Well, the thing is…" Riley gave a sly smile. "It's not 'sneaking out' if you leave a note behind saying where you're going." She looked at Mrs. Knight from under her eyelashes. "We don't like Ronan to worry and since we don't have a curfew, if we ever leave the house to go for a walk or whatever, we leave a note saying where we're going. Most times I go out my window, but other times I just walk right out the front door. It's really no big deal."

"Most people would disagree," Mrs. Knight pointed out.

"Ronan's not most people," Riley replied. "We could do, probably, every bad thing that you could ever think of, and he'd still give us a chance." She twisted a black and red ring around her finger. "That's why we like him so much." She pulled off the ring and looked it over, a fond smile coming to her face, before she put it back on her hand. "We like you too," she added.

Mrs. Knight laughed. "I'm glad that I have your guys' approval," she said.

"Hey, I'm ready to go to Kendall's game!" Katie said as she bounded into the kitchen. She was wearing one of Kendall's old hockey jerseys and even had his number painted on her face. "And, of course, I'm ready to make some bets on the game and that my big brother s going to dominate!" She punched the air with her fists, letting out a 'whoo' as well, causing Mrs. Knight and Riley to laugh. She slowly lowered her arms. "Is…everything ok?" Katie asked hesitantly.

Mrs. Knight looked over at Riley and she nodded. "Everything's fine," Mrs. Knight replied with a smile and a nod.

* * *

Kendall sat in the hallway to the locker room, staring up at the door. He sat there quietly, all of the sounds of the game having been long gone. Most people have gone home at that point, but he couldn't move. He couldn't bear to go out there. He then lowered his head and rested it in his hands. As he looked down at the floor, he looked at the front of his all-star jersey. Something that was so exciting to him before, but was now mocking him. He heard footsteps approaching him and didn't even have to look up to know who it was.

Riley kneeled down in front of him and reached out, shaking his shoulder to get his attention. "Kendall," She said quietly.

Kendall took a shuddery breath. "It's all my fault," he finally choked out, a quiver in his voice.

"You did everything you could; all you guys did," Riley said. "It just wasn't in the cards this time. You can't win em' all." She pulled his hands from his face so that he would finally look up at her. Kendall lifted his head and his eyes locked with hers. Riley frowned when she got a good look at him. Normally his eyes, as clichéd as it was, made her melt, made her knees week, anytime he looked into hers. They were always glowing and filled with happiness, but not this time. His bright green eyes were filled with tears, pain and sadness. His cheeks were a bright red and he looked devastated.

"We could have won," he whispered, "we were in over-time. We lost because I couldn't recover from my break away shot. It just slipped by the goal and bounced off the back wall and I couldn't recover it in time. It just slipped by." His voice cracked as hurt filled his tone again. Tears finally fell from his eyes no matter how hard he tried to keep it in. They slowly rolled down his cheek and he hastily wiped them away. But they kept coming.

"It's not the end of the world, dude. How do you think we feel whenever a show doesn't go well or we get a bad review?" Riley twisted her mouth to the side. She reached out and grabbed onto his hand, forcing him to start playing a game of thumb wrestling against him. "Do you think that we mope around and wonder if we could have done something different or dwell on it?" She rolled her eyes. "Ok, yeah, we do that at first, but then we try to figure out if there was even a little bit of truth in what was said, learn from it, and move on." She jerked her arm to the side as Kendall almost pinned down her thumb. "You worked so hard to get as far as you are, to get on this team and I know that you wanted to prove yourself to everyone, but you still have a long time to do it. Take what happened tonight and learn from it and do better the next game. I know you will."

Kendall didn't reply, he just lowered his head and looked down at their linked hands.

"It's not over you know, you still have a _lot _of games left." Riley squeezed his hand so that he would look at her. "You made the team and you have a friend on the team. Just because you're a rookie doesn't mean they didn't see your potential and that's why you got on. Your team is going to stick by you, you're going to work together no matter one. And, just like Big Time Rush and the DarkElements…you work as a team, you win as a team, and you lose as a team, but you're not alone." She smirked at him. "You're just up to the plate, you haven't struck out yet." She shifted her thumb to the side and pinned his down for three seconds. "Gotcha," she said with a light lift to her voice.

Kendall wiped at his eyes with his free hand. "Thanks," he muttered.

"No worries," Riley replied.

Kendall got to his feet and grabbed onto his sports bag and the two started to walk out to the lobby. He walked slower than Riley, keeping his gaze on the floor, as they went. He was so far behind her that he could hear her talking to his mother and the coach of the team.

"How's he doing?" Mrs. Knight asked her anxiously. "I doubt he's doing that well," she added.

"He's having a hard time," Riley replied.

"But he's going to be ok," Katie added with a nod. "He always is." She bounced on her toes when she spotted Kendall before hurrying over to him, throwing her arms around his waist in a hug. "You played so well, Big Brother!"

Kendall grimaced before smiling down at her. "Thanks, Baby Sister," he replied, giving her a hug back.

"Good game, Kendall. I'm so proud of you," Mrs. Knight added, giving him a hug as well.

"Thanks mom," he muttered. He cleared his throat before glancing at Riley and then back to his mom. "The team is going out to eat and going bowling, too, I guess to lift our spirits or whatever and it's kind of mandatory, so…"

"It's alright," Mrs. Knight waved a hand. "We'll see you when you get back."

Kendall turned to with for Riley, who was whispering something into Katie's ear. Katie looked up at the older girl and smiled and nodded, giving her a thumbs up, before waving to Kendall. She grabbed her mother's hand and the two left the arena.

Kendall turned on his heel and the two walked out to the parking lot. After Riley had crashed the bike, Mrs. Knight called in for another rental car as the bike was being fixed up. Kendall held the driver's side door open for Riley before he got into the passenger seat without saying a word. The two didn't' say anything, other than the direction that Kendall gave her. When they pulled into the parking lot, Kendall watched as his teammates walked to the bowling alley, laughing and shoving each other as they went. Riley parked and turned off the car, but didn't move.

"Do you want to talk?" She kept her eyes straight ahead, looking at the building. Kendall just shook his head, resting his head back against the head rest. "Alright, just let me know." Kendall nodded. "Wow, this is really bothering you, isn't it?" He nodded again. "Dude…just…try to have a good time."

They finally got out of the car and went into the bowling alley. Kendall nudged her arm when she potted the team sitting at the lanes that were the furthest away and the two made their way over. "Hey, Killer, we were waiting for ya," Bobby said, giving him a slap on the shoulder. Kendall managed a weak smile. Bobby then turned to look at Riley. "So…I guess she is your hockey hottie," he joked, trying to make Kendall laugh.

"She's not and just leave it at that," Kendall said sharply, sitting down. Bobby looked over at Riley and she just raised and lowered a shoulder in a shrug.

"I know you didn't mean it that way," she said quickly. Bobby nodded and turned back to another teammate that was trying to get his attention. A waitress walked over to the group.

"What can I get you?" she asked brightly.

"Just water," Kendall replied sullenly.

Riley ordered a root beer before turning to Kendall with narrowed eyes. One of the things that she hated the most about people was when they moped so much over something that they couldn't change. And Kendall wasn't immune to her opinion. "Are you going to be like this all night?" Kendall shook his head. "Good, then you can watch as I kick your ass in bowling."

She hoped that his competitive spirit would brighten him up a little. Riley stood up and dragged him with her so that they could get some bowling shoes. They then went over to the lane that Bobby and his girlfriend, Ashley, were using. She then punched in their names, RILEY and KENDIE (knowing how much he hated being called that) and started the game. Kendall glanced at the name she had given him and rolled his eyes, although he cracked a smile.

"Be ready to get your ass kicked." Riley picked up the first red ball that she could find.

"In your dreams," Kendall replied. "Last I checked, you're terrible when it comes to bowling." He picked up a green ball and moved over to Bobby and Ashley. "And I mean _terrible_."

"I heard that," Riley said. She moved up to the front of the lane and brought her arm back to take her roll. She threw it forward and watched as the ball came off of the lane and fell into the gutter. Her eyes narrowing, Riley turned around to see Kendall biting his lip, trying not to laugh, though Bobby and Ashley were already there.

"Shut up," Riley said, giving Kendall the finger.

He held his hands up and smirks back at her. Riley grabbed her ball from the ball return and stepped back up to the lane again. She threw the ball, and, again, it fell into the gutter. She crossed her arms over her chest and turned back to the group. "What I lack in height I make up for with my big mouth."

Bobby, Kendall, and Ashley all took their turns, getting seven pins or higher, causing Riley to scowl when it was her turn again, already seeing how the game was going to be played. Bobby spoke up as she moved to the top of the lane again.

"Keep your arm straight as you bring the ball back, it will keep you from curving it when you throw the ball forward," he advised. Kendall looked over at him but didn't say anything.

"So, what, you're the bowling guru now?" She asked, placing the ball on her hip. Bobby only held up his hands and smiled. Riley turned back to the pin and threw the ball. She managed to knock down nine pins. She turned around to see Bobby grinning at her. "Shut up," she said.

"That was just a lucky shot," Kendall said. He picked up his ball and glanced at the pins before taking his shot. He grinned and punched his fists into the air when he got a strike. Riley rolled her eyes, shaking her head, feeling her competitive spirit quickly spike. Of course he would get a strike.

"At least he's feeling better," Bobby said as he moved into a chair beside Riley. "I've known him a long time and I've never seen him that upset before. Not even when his father left them." He shook his head. "But, hey, I'm glad that he's getting back to his old self."

By the end of the night they had bowled three games with Kendall winning two of them and Bobby and Ashley tying in first place for the third one. By the end, Kendall had loosened up enough that he was talking and laughing along with the rest of the team, as if they had forgotten about what had happened earlier that night. They had bowled three games, me winning one and Patrick winning two, and ate way too much food. Most of the guys seemed to have forgotten the game and just had a good time with the team. Kendall grabbed their shoes and brought it back to the counter before walking back over to Riley.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yep," she replied

* * *

Once they got back home, Katie bombarded Kendall at the door, waving an Anchorman DVD in his fae and begging him to watch it with her. She knew that he wouldn't say 'no' as it was his favorite movie, even though he did feel so bad about losing the game. Riley had left them to it, saying that she didn't like Will Ferrell, which shocked Kendall and he made a statement saying that he was going to force her to watch it at some point, and she left. Throughout most of the movie though, Kendall wasn't paying too much attention. He just allowed Katie to snuggle up to his side and focused on the area above the TV.

"What are you thinking about, Big Brother?" Katie asked, looking up at him, a concerned look on her face.

"Stuff," he replied after a second. Katie opened her mouth to make a smart-ass comment, but stopped when she saw the upset look on his face. She had never seen him this way and it was really starting to worry her, so her comments wouldn't help at all. "The game mostly," he continued. "What I could have done differently, how I could have stopped that puck." Katie made a snorting noise. She had the same thought process that Riley had. It was something that happened and he needed to move on. But, it was her big brother and she knew how obsessive he could be about things. He even obsessed over a lacrosse game that she had won ages ago. He was a proud big brother and couldn't stop himself from telling people how proud he was of her. But that lasted three weeks longer than it needed to, so she got annoyed pretty quickly. "Don't say anything, I know I should just let it go but I just need to let my brain process it for a while."

"Ok," Katie replied after a second. "You know I'm proud of you either way, bro." She sat up and crossed her legs as she looked down at her brother. "And I'm always going to be proud of you. Everything that you did with Big Time Rush, everything that you've done with hockey, just everything. I'm always going to be proud of you." She poked him in the stomach. "Even if you screw up royally and get thrown in jail for something, you're still going to be my big brother."

"Ha." Kendall laughed. "If I was throwing in jail, you'll probably be sitting right next to me, waiting for mom to come get us, saying how cool it was."

"You're right," Katie agreed with a smile. "I would."

Kendall laughed. He reached out and grabbed Katie, hugging her to his chest. "I love you Baby Sister. You can be a pain in the butt sometimes, but you always know what to say to make me laugh and to cheer me up." He gave her a loud kiss on the cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too, Big Brother," Katie replied. "And you know the only reason that I put up with you guys is because I know that I can ride your coattails all the ways to fame and fortune and then potentially get mom to retire early and then become your manager and we can split everything fifty-fifty." She formed a fist with her hand and placed it against her chest. "We gotta keep it in the family, bro."

Kendall laughed and mussed her hair.

The two looked up as the front door slowly opened and closed as Riley entered the house. She leaned against the door for a moment before turning to the two of them, slowly. Katie's eyes widened when she got a good look at her. She had what was becoming a black eye and a split, puffy lip.

"Uh." Riley gave a short, nervous laugh. "Would you believe that I fell?"

* * *

**A/N: **I'm so happy that I was able to finally put up this chapter as well as the last one. I've had it done since last Thursday and was excited to get it up because it's also had something that I haven't written about before. I hope you guys liked it.

Uhh, I thought about showing the hockey game, but I thought that it would be stronger if I just showed the outcome of the game. I hope you guys liked the brother-sister moment with Kendall and Katie.

Cheers,

-Riles


	11. Scorching

**.:Chapter 11 - Scorching:.**

* * *

"Kendall….Kendall….Kendall!"

Feeling a hand on his shoulder, shaking him, Kendall opened an eye and glanced up at the dark shape above him before he glanced over at the clock. Seeing that it was only three in the morning, he groaned before reaching up and turning on the lamp. His annoyance turned to concern when he saw Riley standing over his bed, chewing her bottom lip. "What's wrong? Did you have another nightmare?"

"Yeah, well, this time it wasn't as bad," Riley said, looking at her feet as she twirled her hair around her finger. "Still really creepy though."

Kendall knew that she was trying to downplay it; he could see the fear in her eyes, no matter how hard she tried to hide it. But having woken up so early, the tiredness that she was probably experiencing just made it worse. He sat up and pulled the covers back on his bed, making space for her. She quickly climbed in and curled up into a ball, pulling the covers over her. Kendall got out of the bed and went over to his closet. He pulled a black sweatshirt off of a hangar and walked back over to the bed, handing it to her. She reached a hand up from under the covers and grabbed onto the sweatshirt, pulling it underneath.

Kendall let out a quiet chuckle before getting back into bed, sitting on top of the covers. He reached over and poked where he thought her stomach was. "You know it's hard to breathe under there, right?"

"Only when Patrick does a dutch oven and he's done those enough that I'm impervious to them," Riley's muffled voice replied. "Besides, I like it under here."

"Why?" Kendall continued to look down at her.

"Because it's dark."

Kendall frowned and reached out, grabbing onto the covers and pulling it down far enough so that he could see her face. His eyebrows lowered. "Why do you like the dark?"

"Because you don't have to see anything in it, it's just there," Riley replied, her eyes locked on his. "Which, in retrospect, is funny, because I'm not afraid of the dark more than I am afraid of what's in it. Since no one knows what's in it. But in my opinion, it's better than being able to see what's coming for you in the light."

Kendall reached over and gently stroked her cheek with his fingers, being careful of her black eye and puffy lip. "Is that what your nightmare was about?"

"I don't remember." Riley tried to bury herself under the covers again, but Kendall held them tight, so she wouldn't go anywhere. "I don't remember dreams; I remember feelings and emotions from dreams. Colors. I don't remember them specifically."

"That's probably what scares you the most of them, then," Kendall remarked.

Riley was silent for a moment. Her blue eyes searched him as he calmly looked back at her. She scooted out from under the covers of his bed a little bit. "Y'know, I never noticed it before….but…you understand a lot of things about me."

"I'm a good listener," Kendall replied. He continued to softly stroke her cheek. "And I try not to judge people too quickly. And, believe it or not, you and I are a lot more alike than you'd think. Not on the outside wit out interests and stuff, but on the inside."

"You have nightmares too?" Riley looked skeptical.

"I lived one," Kendall corrected her. "When my dad left." He shrugged. "Only difference being that I was able to deal with it when he did leave because I was able to fall into a new routine and was able to find some sort of closure to it with the trial and everything." Riley flinched and looked away. "But I know that it's harder for you. Frankly, I'm just glad that you're willing to talk to me about it this time."

"I don't know if I am," she said honestly. "I'd rather keep it quiet and just….write it in my notebook…forget about it."

Kendall sighed and pulled his hand back from her cheek. "C'mere." He opened his arms and grabbed onto Riley, pulling her on top of him. Riley rested her cheek against his arm as she fell into his embrace. "The worst thing that you could do is try to forget about it. Keeping things in like that, for too long, it's not a good thing."

"I know," Riley remarked. "Basically everything that I've ever felt I've kept in first. I can say little things out without having to think, I can give opinions without a thought slamming into my brain to make me stop before I say it. But what I really feel…I can only hold it in for so long until I explode. And sometimes, I don't even think I've reached the end of my fuse yet. And I'm afraid if I ever get there I'll do something I'll royally regret."

"Regret's a good thing," Kendall said. He reached over to his nightstand and grabbed his beanie off of it. He gently lowered the beanie over her hear. "Because the way I see it, you'd rather regret the things you've done than the things you haven't done."

Riley chuckled. "Now who sounds like the fortune cookie, Hockey-Head?"

"I'll take the fortune cookie thing from you, you can take the sports speeches from me, Ri," Kendall replied. He reached behind him and adjusted the pillows so that it supported his back. He heard a light tapping sound, and looking out the window, directly to his right, and saw that it was raining. "Now, there's something weird between us. And we're best friends, so we can't have that." Kendall gave a gentle smile.

"There's nothing weird between us," Riley contradicted. "It's good. Things transitioned smoothly from being just friends and that's all I wanted. It's what we were like before. Like…we were an unofficial couple, but not like an ordinary couple. You're my best friend, the best friend everyone needs, the best friend I kinda always fell for. Yeah, we fight a lot over stupid things, we get competitive over stupid things, but we laugh a lot. Sometimes you can make me laugh until I cry or for no apparent reason at all. It took me a while to understand what that meant."

She rubbed her nose.

"I know you don't think that you're good enough for me…that you're not perfect, but I don't want someone who is perfect. I don't want someone who always smiles and has never ending patience with me. I don't want someone that understands _everything_ all the time. I want someone who had issues, who lets down their guard for me, who frustrates me, who interests me, who makes me want to scream in anger and cry in happiness and who isn't devoted to me. I don't want someone that makes me their whole world, that puts too much attention on me, that would scare the fuck out of me. I just want someone who's day can be made when they spend time with me. But not so much time that we get on anyone else's nerves."

Riley smiled when she felt Kendall laugh. She pulled the sweatshirt sleeves down over her hands. "I'm not asking for perfection, I'm just asking for reality."

"And what makes you think that's me?" Kendall tilted his head down and looked at her.

Riley rolled onto her back and looked seriously at him. It was the same look that she had first given him when they had met. He and his friends had walked into Rocque Records, nervous to be meeting the band that they were working with. His eyes had moved over her and her siblings' faces. He was creeped out at first, noticing how similar their faces were. It was kind of jarring to see five similar facial structures looking back at him. In fact, he thought that Riley, Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah were quadruplets at first glance. Then he got a good look at everyone's face, he was never afraid of eye contact. He just wanted to see if he could get a sort of a grasp on them. They all looked at him curiously, and then his eyes landed on Riley. She had looked back at Big Time Rush with a serious look on her face that he couldn't decipher, before leaning over and whispering something to Rhuben, that caused the two girls to laugh and the boys to smile. Then they continued to look at the guys, studying them.

They did a lot of that as they started to work with Big Time Rush, studying them to see what they would do next. It was unsettling at first, but then the guys got used to it and figured out why they did what they did and it made more sense.

"Don't you get it?" Riley frowned. "You're the fire. You're Gustavo's fire. The passion that you put in everything you do is what makes you, you." She pointed to herself, the sleeve of his sweatshirt falling down her hand. "I'm the one thing you can turn to when there's nothing left to burn! And that's only because I can fight fire with fire."

"Because you're the fire of your band, or that's your element anyway," Kendall said slowly. "And Rhu's is darkness, Patrick's is thunder, Noah's is SilverWind, and Sydney's is spirits and that's why you guys are the DarkElements."

"Mhm." Riley pushed some of her loose hair out of her face. "I don't know how long this is going to last, but…I'm glad that we're giving it a shot." She shook her head. "Frankly, I haven't been this happy in a while."

"Me too," Kendall greed. Drawing her closer, he cupped her face with his free hand, tilting it up to him. His stomach seized in anxiety, though he could see in her eyes that it was something she wanted. He leaned down and their lips met. He felt Riley sigh against him before feeling her shift, moving so that she was comfortable, both of her arms reaching up and resting on his shoulders. Her body was so close to his, it made him warm.

Riley's fingers grazed the back of his neck and he couldn't help himself; he tilted his head and wedged her mouth open with his own, gently running the tip of his tongue over her lip. He smiled to himself when he recognized the taste of strawberry flavored chapstick. It was instantly his favorite taste.

His hands gripped her waist, clutching her to him as if he was afraid that she'd slip away. When the kiss ended, he nervously looked down into her face. She was right when she said that their friendship transitioned into more smoothly despite the few bumps along the way before they admitted how they felt; it felt right to take that step. But he still had a small feeling that she was something he couldn't have, He was a hockey player from Minnesota that, relatively, didn't know what he was doing in the music industry. And she was a girl from Australia that knew exactly what she was doing, where and when and wouldn't let anyone get in her way.

Riley's eyes flashed up at him. She reached up a hand and scratched her forehead. Kendall knocked her hand away and started to play with her smaller fingers. "Took you long enough, Hockey-Head. Thought I was always gonna have to make the first move, boofhead."

"Shut up, Riles," Kendall replied. He tightened his arms around her as she lowered her head and closed her eyes, her cheeks flushed lightly. "Just go to sleep. I'll be right here."

* * *

**A/N: **I wanted at least one chapter where they were completely vulnerable with each other (obviously Riley more so than Kendall) and figured I'd do it now. I hope you guys liked it. You'll find out what happened to Riley in the next chapter.

Also, I know that in my story _It's The Rush That You Get _I said that BTR met DE at a music video shoot, but in some of our other stories, Rhu and I said they met at Rocque Records, that's only because we haven't decided which would be cannon for it yet.

Cheers,

-Riles

**Fun Fact:** When we first created Patrick and Noah, Noah was just as outgoing as Patrick was. Then we changed him to the strong/silent type


	12. Red-Hot

**.:Chapter 12 – Red-Hot:.**

* * *

"Hey, bro, here's some more hockey gear," Katie said as she turned away from the front door, holding onto a large cardboard box. Her arms were shaking from the weight of the box before she haphazardly dropped it to the ground. "It's from Competitive Edge, again."

Kendall made a grunting sound as he merely looked at the box, not sure whether or not he should take it. It wasn't the first time that he had gotten free hockey gear and he was sure that it wouldn't be the last. But what bothered him the most was the fact that he knew that he was only getting it because he was a celebrity that would endorse it for free. Katie pointed that out to him pretty quickly. He didn't believe her at first, but then more and more stuff kept coming to him and it was starting to get on his nerves.

"If you're this worried about it, why don't you just tell them to stop?" Katie suggested, sitting next to her brother on the arm of the couch.

"'Cause I don't want to let anyone down, which is the worst thing about being back here," Kendall said. He ran his hands over his face. "Riles tried to warn me about that when we first got here, when they played out music in the store, but now it's so glaringly obvious I can't believe I didn't see it before."

"So what are you going to do?" Katie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I don't know," Kendall replied quietly. "I'd ask Mom, but I don't really want her to get too…wrapped up in this sort of thing. You know that she can get really overprotective and I don't want things to fall apart because of that." He ran a hand through his hair.

"Bro, you care too much about what other people think," Katie said.

She crossed her legs at the knee and studied her brother closely. He looked to be the most lost as she had ever seen him, but she understood it at the same time. These guys….everyone in St. Paul, it was a big deal to them to have it that someone from their city made it big in Hollywood. No one ever thought that it would happen when Gustavo Rocque had come by the Paramount theatre the first time. But now that he and the other guys were popular and were getting bigger and bigger as times went on, it had to be hard for other people to figure out what to do or how to act around them now. Girls that were her friends freaked out whenever Katie even mentioned her brother or the other guys and what trouble and things they got into when they were at the PalmWoods. She couldn't go anywhere in her school without being asked what 'insert celebrity here' is like or what kind of parties she went to, or if she got advanced copies of the guys' music.

At first, she could admit, she lapped up the attention, but now it was nothing short of annoying. She didn't see how it could take Kendall so long to see that everyone would treat them differently. Even the kids at the PalmWoods treated them differently. After they had gotten back from their first tour, no one batted an eye, but after that, people started to act like they were their friends all along. Even the Jennifers had made signs to greet them when they came back from their second tour. Katie thought that it was really pathetic at how they were trying to brush arms with the now famous, but didn't want tosay anything that would hinder the guys' excitement.

"Unfortunately, I've been aware of that for a while," Kendall said with a half smile. "I can't help it, though. I guess I started to care a bit too much after Dad left, you know?" Katie nodded quietly. "Because I cared so much about how other people looked at our family afterwards and how we were being raised."

"That explains the fights that you continuously got in whenever someone would mention him," Katie said. She pushed her hair behind her ears. "Of course, I didn't know what was going on at the time, but I get it now."

"Yeah, that was sort of the point," Kendall agreed. He looked at Katie seriously. "I want you to know that you need to ignore what anyone is going to say about our family," he added. "And I know that people do say it, or give you sympathetic looks. I want you to ignore them, because, no matter whether or not we have dad here, we're still a good family."

"No, Big Brother, we're the _best _family," Katie contradicted. "Because no one can mess with us, especially with having Mom be so overprotective as she is." She shrugged. "Not that I don't appreciate it, because I do, it's just that she can go overboard sometimes."

"That's the point, Baby Sister," Kendall remarked. He leaned forward and gave his sister a kiss on the forehead. "Just don't let Mom hear you say it." He got up from the couch, stretching his arms over his head. He then picked up the remote and turned off the TV. "But speaking of, I need to go down to the store."

"You're finally going to give your boss a piece of your mind?" Katie followed him with her eyes as he moved across the room to go to the staircase.

"I'm going to try," Kendall replied. He looked over his shoulder as he started up the stairs. "You can do whatever you want with that stuff. Just let me know if you want me to sign it so that you can sell it. I'll get to it later."

"Awesome!" Katie grinned.

She didn't always sell all of his things to make money, not that he knew of anyway. There were a few times that she secretly stole their stuff and sold it, but she had started to back off on that sort of thing for a while. Especially after how freaked out the guys got when their realized that their fans had some of the things that they had been missing. But that didn't mean that she wouldn't try to find a way to get some sort of compensation from them.

"Thanks," she called up after him.

"You're welcome!" Kendall replied.

Katie couldn't help but smile to herself as she started to open the boxes of Kendall's stuff. He was going to be ok. She grabbed onto a few of the hockey sticks from the box and went up to her room. She set the sticks in a corner and turned to go to her desk and stopped when something caught her eye. She turned to her bed and saw a piece of paper lying against her pillow. She picked it up and smiled when she saw that it was a picture of her.

Katie put the picture back down and went over to her desk to look for some tape. The hockey gear could wait, she needed to hang up a picture.

* * *

Kendall let out a sigh as he walked back into his house, tossing his keys into the bowl that was sitting on a lamp desk in the living room. He felt a lot better after having had that talk with his boss. Now he was going to be able to, hopefully, enjoy the rest of the vacation that he was going to have there. He heard a sound coming from the laundry room and walked towards it, expecting to find his mother, but found Riley sitting on top of the dryer, her hair wrapped up in a towel, a brush sitting next to her, and a book in her left hand.

"What are you doing?" Kendall asked, laughing.

"Dying my hair," Riley replied. She pointed over to a trashcan where a box of red hair dye had been discarded. "The red was starting to come out and I needed to re-do it." She pulled off the towel that was on her hand and showed it to him. "Unfortunately, think I stained your mom's towels."

Kendall grimaced at the stains that were drying. "It looks like blood."

"If you're squeamish about blood, then you shouldn't look in the bathtub," Riley advised him. She looked him up and down. "What's up with you? You look happier than usual." She paused, her eyebrow twitching. "If that's even possible."

"I just had a conversation with my boss," Kendall replied. "And you'd be proud to know that I put him in his place." At Riley's slightly interested look, he continued. "Katie and I were talking earlier about the free hockey gear I've been getting-"

"Yeahhhh, I tripped over that today and got this, thank you," Riley said, pointing to the bruise on her shin.

"Just like you tripped and busted your face open?" Kendall snorted.

Riley glared at him.

"Sorry," Kendall dismissed quickly. "Anyway, I talked to him about the fact that he continued to schedule me to come into work even though I made it clear that I was on vacation and that I didn't want to come in when I had things planned. And because I talked to Katie about it, I asked him if it was for the fact that he wanted to get free publicity for the store." Riley brought up a knee, resting her arms on her thigh as she listened. "And he actually admitted to it. I know that he had good intentions because the store hadn't been doing great since I left-"

"Ego much?" Riley interrupted.

"Let me finish." Kendall laughed and reached out, lightly smacking her on the leg. "And he was just trying to get some more customers to come into his store and I can't blame him for that, because I wasn't able to give him much notice before we left to go to LA."

"And he kept bringing you back to work because he thinks you're a hard worker?" Riley looked skeptical.

"You haven't met the rest of my co-workers," Kendall replied. He held up a finger. "And, I ran into Kayslee again. I didn't tell you before, but she did threaten some stuff when she came to the store once before. And before you say what I know you're going to say, she isn't a bad person at all. All she really wanted was an apology from me."

"Uh-huh."

"I'm being serious," Kendall insisted. "I talked to her today and sad that she was being particularly malicious about her plans to humiliate me as much as I did to her when I didn't really break up with her before we left and I apologized for everything and that was all that she wanted." He then smirked at Riley, who suddenly looked stricken. "And she told me what happened to you, though she had nothing to do with it, I can assure you of that. Her friends were just worried about her and went about it the wrong way." He crossed his arms over his chest. "So how is it that you can get beat up by a bunch of-"

"Hey!" Riley interrupted Kendall, her eyes flashing. "You try getting sneak attacked by five people at one time. I can defend myself perfectly fine, but not when I lose the element of surprise."

"I know, I know," Kendall said. "I meant, it makes sense as to why you were brought out here. Which brings me to my next question; what made you think that I'd hate you for being arrested for defending yourself? You're acting like I haven't been arrested before."

"Ha!" Riley laughed loudly. "You're too much of a goody two-shoes to get arrested. You're too scared what Mama Knight would do." She jumped off of the dryer as it buzzed and opened it to pull out a towel. She then grabbed the towel off of her head and replaced it in the dryer, starting it up.

"I was arrested when Gustavo was here," Kendall insisted. "He was saying that James had no talent and that he shouldn't have even auditioned and I got mad, tried to defend him, and next thing I know I'm being restrained by security guards."

Riley glanced at him over her shoulder. "That story is about as stupid as the one that you guys keep telling us about having joined up with MI6 to save the world from some boofheaded hoon that was trying to move the moon to take over the world." She shook her head and turned back to him, using her foot to close the door.

"I keep telling you that it's true!" Kendall insisted. "But you guys won't believe us!"

"Because it's a lame ass story that has little to no chance of being true," Riley said, rolling her eyes. "You push it so hard that it makes you less creditable." She leaned over and squeezed water out of the end of her hair onto the laundry room floor. "At least the things that we say have happened to us is true, ad it sounds true too."

"Mhm, right." Kendall placed his hands on his hips and smiled teasingly at her. "Because that's stuff that people would want to brag about."

"Hey, we warned you from the very beginning that we attract trouble like a magnet," Riley said. "Its part of our curse, remember. I mean…" she wiped water off of her cheek. "I've only been here for a month, I still have another month here, and we've already crashed a motorcycle, got lost at a mall, been threatened, and I've been jumped. I don't even want to think about what's gonna happen in the next month."

"Excuse me, but you were the one that crashed the bike," Kendall contradicted.

"Your weight threw me off," Riley replied.

"Are you calling me fat?" Kendall crossed his arms over his chest, raising his eyebrows.

Riley picked up the brush and bent forward, bringing her hair over her head. She brushed it with a few quick flicks of her wrist, brushing the back of her hair before snapping back up, flipping her hair back over her head, hitting him in the face with the excess water her hair let off. She pointed at him with the brush. "I'm only suggesting that you eat too many Pinkie Puffs,"

"Why do I even put up with you?" Kendall pretended to think about it, looking at the ceiling.

"For the same reason that I put up with you," Riley replied with a sigh. "Because we're both nuts." Kendall smiled. Riley sighed again and ran a hand through her hair. "Sometimes I really wonder, though. Because, my biggest fear is that you'll see me the way I see myself. I mean, I have a good sense of self-esteem, but there's still a lot of things that I have to get through and I'm afraid of what you or Katie or Mama Knight will think and-"

"Shh." Kendall reached out a hand and placed it over her mouth. Riley narrowed her eyes at him, but didn't move to push his hand away. "You worry too much, you know? Just do the same thing that you guys always tell us whenever something goes wrong or if we're anxious about the future. Just take it one day at a time." He slowly moved his hand away, in case he was going to be bit, kicked, or punched. And he wouldn't put it past her to do either of the three.

"I'm surprised that you didn't give me some sort of long winded speech," Riley teased.

"Eh." Kendall shrugged and leaned close to her, slipping his fingers through her belt loops and pulling her against him. "I'm not really in the mood." He captured her lips in a kiss, brushing her wet hair off of her shoulder with his hand. He gently rubbed her neck with his fingers, using his thumb to rub her collarbone.

Riley pulled back and swung her head, her hair falling over her face. She removed a hand from Kendall's hair and smoothed it off of her forehead. "So, does this mean that I'm your hockey hottie?" Riley asked, her eyes flashing.

Kendall returned her look with a smirk. "Only if I'm your Minnesota Man." The two looked at each other for a moment before identical looks of disgust slid onto their faces. "Oh god, that sounded even more wrong out loud than it did in my head."

"I was thinking the same thing," Riley agreed, laughing lightly. She brought her hand up to Kendall's hair again, gently running her fingernails over the base of his skull, sending shivers up and down his spine. "I think I'll just stick with calling you Hockey-Head."

"And I'll stick with tolerating it," Kendall replied.

Riley smiled and grabbed onto his neck, bringing his head down to kiss him. Kendall smiled and kissed her back. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up onto the dryer, leaning into her as they kissed again.

**THE END**

* * *

**A/N: **Aww, story's over, I'm kinda sad to see it go. It was never intended to be that long anyway, I don't write out everything that I want to see in my fics anymore, just little ideas/scenes and when I feel the story is over, it's over and that's what happened here. (Which is ironic because the same thing happened with _You're Not Alone _and both stories ended up being around the same length). I originally intended to have James, Logan, and Carlos show up, but I couldn't have it fit in well with the story, which I'm really mad at myself about. I'm probably going to do a deleted scene of where they were going to come up.

If you didn't get it, I had it that Kayslee was never the bitch ex that people expected, only a girl that wanted a sincere apology, so she's not a bad person at all. But, as usual, Riley's expectations of someone being up to something made her jump to conclusions about it. And I had more planned with her, I had a whole plot, but it ended up falling apart at the seams when I really thought about it, but she will be in a future fic that I'm working on.

I do have another Kiley story that's not coming up soon that's a request for _suckerforlovestory _but that won't be up for a while. I don't know which full lengthed story will be the next one that I put up as I have so many that I have to choose from, especially since I have the stories with Rhuben, Patrick, and Noah planned as well as all of the other ones I have and have neglected for a long time.

That being said, I have two Kiley stories (ones a request, one is mine), a Patie, a Carphanie (that won't be up until after season 4 ends), a JamesxJo, a RonanxMrs. Knight, a Jatie, and a Wiley story to choose from for the romance ones and then three sequels to this story, a sequel to one of my older stories, as well as three other stories to choose from, one of which is a re-work of my old Katie story _Big Sister_. So you can see my dilemma. (Also, if you've seen my part of our upcoming fics section on our tumblr, you'd see that the stories It's Times Like These and It's Been A While hasn't been mentioned above, and there's a reason for that).

Anywho, thanks for all of the reviews, favorites, alerts, and the constant support from you guys. It really means a lot!

Cheers,

-Riles


End file.
